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CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 



BY 



R. W. GIBBES, M.D. 



COLUMBIA, S. C. 



'Beautiful island! where the green 
"Which Nature wears was never seen 
'Neath zone of Europe ; where the hue 
Of sea and heaven is such a blue 
As England dreams not; where the night 
Is all irradiate with the light 
Of star-like moons, which hung on high, 
Breathe and quiver in the sky." 




NEW YORK: 
W. A. TOWNSEND AND COMPANY, 

NO. 46 WALKER STREET. 
1860. 






SOUTH CAROLINIAN STEAM JOB PRINTING OFFICE, COLUMBIA, S. C. 






\ 



\ 



TO 



WILLIAM SIDNEY SMITH, ESQ., 



Vice Consul of Her Britannic Majesty at Trinidad 
de Cuba. 

My s Dear Sir: 

Accept my feeble acknowledgment of many obligations to 
you while enjoying an agreeable residence in your city. The 
restorative influences of her delightful climate I am sure were 
much assisted by the pleasure I received from your social 
friendship. 

Very sincerely, yours, 

ROBERT W. GIBBES. 

Columbia, S. C, Sept. 1, 1860. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



A severe illness from extensive pleurisy, terminating 
in effusion, having confined me to the house for four 
months, with very slow improvement of symptoms, T 
determined in January last to seek the reparative in- 
fluence of a more equable climate. I left home feeble, 
out of breath upon the slightest exertion, and nervous, 
suffering at every change, and doubtful of more than 
temporary improvement. Upon reaching Havana, the 
uncomfortable feelings were greatly increased by the 
harshness of cold northers, and the variable climate of 
that city, too damp and depressing for northern consti- 
tutions. I was in the situation of an eminent states- 
man, who found he was obliged to ask himself the 
question, "where shall I go?" and had as much doubt 
in the reply. Whenever I, on enquiry, suggested any 
place, there was either total ignorance of it, or I was told 
of some objection — that there was no hotel, a very bad 
one, or exorbitant charges, or insalubrity and privations, 
rendering the locality uncomfortable or injurious — some 
difficulty existed in every case, and this I found in- 
fluencing many to remain in Havana to secure present 
comfortable quarters without the risk of losing them by 
a change. In my embarrassment, I was relieved by the 

B 



vi INTRODUCTORY. 

advice of Mr. Crawford, the British Consul, who very 
kindly informed me of the value of the climate of 
Trinidad de Cuba, and urged my giving it a trial. 

I went there intending to stay a week or two, and 
found it so agreeable to my respiration and comfort 
that I remained nearly five weeks, steadily improving 
from the day of my arrival, and feeling at the end of 
that time, that I was well enough to travel in other 
parts of the island. I left Trinidad too early, and 
subsequent experience satisfied me that it would have 
been greatly to my advantage to have remained there 
longer. I found pleasure in visiting other places, and 
enjoyed beauty of scenery and sea air, but nowhere did 
I find the softness and dryness and equability of 
temperature of Trinidad. 

During the few weeks I was there, the effusion in my 
chest was removed as I gained strength and vital force, 
and my gratitude to that sweet climate induces me to 
recommend it to others. While absent I wrote light 
sketches for the Daily South Carolinian, currmte 
calamo, which appear to have given pleasure and 
interest to many friends, on whose urgency I have been 
induced to put them in boOk form. Whatever I saw 
was described under momentary impulse, and had I 
re-written the letters, it would have no doubt been with 
a labored and less attractive style. I therefore have 
simply republished them, with some additional matter, 
not because I consider them as deserving of more than 
the ephemeral notice belonging to such composition, 
but being desirous of giving my impressions of that 



INTRODUCTORY. vii 

beautiful country, which I know I will be charged 
with seeing couleur de rose, I risk the republication 
as a means of communicating to a numerous class of 
invalids my experience, which may be of service. If 
a single invalid, induced to visit Cuba by my advice, is 
relieved, I shall be fully reimbursed with the satis- 
faction of knowing that I have contributed to it. Life 
is not to be valued by money, and health procura- 
ble at any sacrifice is important. A visit to Cuba 
costs money, but, as in my case, the interests of a 
large family often depend upon such a change, and 
a restoration to health fully repays the outlay. The 
difficulty of finding a locality suitable to the case is the 
chief source of anxiety in measures for relief. Be- 
lieving that the south side of the island of Cuba 
presents the strongest claims for consideration to the 
invalid, whose nervous power is shattered and vital 
forces diminished, I feel it a professional and social 
duty to give my views of its value, based on personal 
improvement. Patients requiring a change should 
avoid the variable cold weather of the United States, 
by an early retreat to Cuba about the first of No- 
vember, and should remain upon the south side of the 
island until the first of April. The chilliness of north- 
ers being then over, they may safely visit the northern 
side, and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the trip from 
Sagua to Matanzas, and revel in the enchanting view of 
the Yunluri so exquisitely charming. A return to 
Havana at that time will allow their visit to be more 
appreciated, with improved strength, and I am sure 



viii INTRODUCTORY. 

they will leave the island with greater satisfaction. 
For the temperature of Trinidad I refer to the registry 
of the thermometer, furnished by Dr. Urquiola, on p. 
57. A comparison of its details will give to invalids 
suffering from affections injuriously influenced by the 
cold of winter, much to encourage them in the hope of 
amelioration of symptoms, if not full restoration to 
health. There is, probably, no climate presenting such 
attractive interest to them as that which I have 
recently enjoyed. He who seeks only pleasure in 
traveling, I hope will find my notes of service, in show- 
ing that there is much to interest him. The scientific 
man will collect abundant material for study, in the 
geology and natural history of the country, which will 
fully repay him for a visit. R. W. Gr. 



CONTENTS. 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 



Leave Charleston — Carysfort Reef — Iron Light-House — 
Key West — Tropical Fruits — King-fish — Campbell Min- 
strels — Cuba — Entrance to Havana — Hotels — Cuban 
Ladies — Rides on the Paseo 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Monkey Show — Yolantes and Caleseros — Bull Fight — Cock 
Fights — Amusements — Raw Norther — Batabano — Palm 
Trees — Steamer Rapido — Breakfast — Catalan Wine — 
Southern Coast — Playing Monte — Cienfuegos 12 

CHAPTER III. 

Cienfuegos — A Lady's Trunk — Trinidad — Hotel de la Grande 
Antiila — Music — Bells — Cathedral — Situation of the 
City — Climate — Baker's Residence — Frederick's Photo- 
graphs — Victory at Tetuan — Keller Troupe — Subscrip- 
tions for the War — Proclamation — Fiestas — Colored 
Virgin 28 

CHAPTER IV. 

Cantero's Quinta — Milking Cows — Narcotic effect of Atmos- 
phere—Occupation of Visitors — Cemetery — Frequency of 
Blindness 46 



CONTEXTS 



CHAPTER V. 



Cost of Board— Trip to Trinidad— Temperature — Hotel — 
City— Music — Country Seats — Summary of Meteorological 
Observations— Thermometer— Rain— Winds— Mean Tem- 
perature 53 

CHAPTER VI. 

Temperature — Procession of the Host — The Oleo — Confes- 
sion of a Cuban Robber 64 

CHAPTER VII. 

Negroes at a Funeral— Cost of Burial — How they Bury — 
High Mass — Dignity Balls — Fiesta of the River Ay — 
Fancion Taurica — Steamer Water Witch !'■'> 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Valley of Trinidad — Estate of M. Cantero — Sulphur Spring — 
Hospitable Breakfast — Refinery of Guinea — Yankee 
Cooper — Sugar Produced — Sulphur Spring Analysed 81 



CHAPTER IX. 
The Coolies — Privileges of Slaves — Slave Trade 90 

CHAPTER X. 

Railroad to Sagua — Grand Dejeuner — Ride on a Locomo- 
tive — Consecration of a Cathedral — Hotel on the Water — 
Green Turtle — Italian Opera — Sail to the Keys — Beautiful 
Trip among the Keys — Cardenas — Life on a Steamer — A 
Fat Priest and a Snoring Commissary — Gambling 97 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Cardenas — Matanzas — Rides on the Paseo — Campbell Min- 
strels, and Arthur Napoleon — La Ariadne — Fine Sugar 
Estate — Sugar Making — Slaves — Valley of Yumuvi — 
Coffee Plantation 107 

CHAPTER XII. 

Victory at Tetuan — Gi'and Fiesta — Letter from Matanzas — 
Great Rejoicings — Burning Gunpowder — Visitors Return- 
ing to the States 12<> 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Plaza de Armas — Dominica — Teatro de Tacon — Paseo 
Tacon — Campo Santo — The Presidio — Baiios Publicos — 
University — Colleges — Education — Public Charities — The 
Fortresses of the Moro and Cabanos — Regla 127 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Cathedral of San Ignacio — Columbus — The Bier — Proces- 
sion — The Pantheon — Epitaph — Funeral Banners — Por- 
trait — Interment of Cortes — The Coffin — Los Puritanos — 
Tobacco 138 

CHAPTER XV. 

Coolie and White Labor — Overseers — Reforms of Govern- 
ment — Cuban Progress — Departure from Cuba — The 
Mississippi — Sugar Plantations — Arrival at New Orleans... 156 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Bahamas — Nassau — Translucence of the Water — 
Hotel — Excellent Fare — Colonial Debate — Black Troops — 
Salubrious Climate— Eminent Physicians 3 64 



xli CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Consumption — Tubercular Disease— Vital Functions — The 
Lungs— Renewal of Carbon — Nutritive Organs — Nervous 
Power — Digestion — Morbid Elements — Pulmonary 
Disease — Curability of Consumption — Temperature — Ex- 
ercise in the Open Air — Injudicious Treatment — Nutri- 
tion — Inflammation 174 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Importance of Exercise — Personal Experience — Spontaneous 
Cure of Phthisis — Proper Food — Fruits — Stimulants — 
Winter Residence for Consumptives — West India Islands — 
Jamaica — Florida 191 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Directions for Travelers — Different Routes — Passports — 
Colored Servants — Clothing — Medicines — Articles for 
Comfort and Convenience — Hotel Agents — Baggage — 
Permit — Principal Hotels — Charges — Silver Coin — Public 
Institutions — Volantes — Overcharges — Financial Calcula- 
tions — Letters to Planters 204 



CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 



CHAPTER I. 

" Swiftly through the foamy sea 
Shoots our vessel gallantly ; 
Still approaching as she flies 
Warmer suns and brighter skies." 

Havana, January 23, 1860. 
As " time and tide wait for no man," the pas- 
sengers by the good steamer Isabel at Charleston, 
were required to be " all aboard " on Wednesday 
night, so as to leave before day, and when they 
turned out, after the sun had risen next morning, 
they found themselves thirty miles at sea, and 
steaming along with a steady motion. The sea 
was calm, consequently the breakfast table full. 
About 12 m., we ran into the bay at Savannah, 
to receive a few passengers from a tug, and then 
our ship's course was resumed, keeping between 
the coast and the Gulf Stream. The weather 



2 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

became cold and disagreeable, and confined inva- 
lids to the cabin, but twenty -four hours brought 
a change of temperature, and overcoats even 
were laid aside, and a delightful atmosphere en- 
joyed on deck. JNTo special incident occurred 
during the voyage, our estimable captain know- 
ing the reefs as well as the wreckers, and we 
enjoyed the sight of green and blue and purple 
water, approaching sometimes within pistol shot 
of the reefs. "We passed quite near the iron 
light-house on Carysfort reef, where four young 
ladies, daughters of the keeper, reside with him, 
where beaux rarely visit, their acquaintance 
being limited to a few wreckers, who occasion- 
ally give them a call. Eobinson Crusoe's situa- 
tion on his isle, we think, must have been far 
more desirable than the isolation of these young 
ladies in their solitary abode on the ocean. This 
residence is built of iron frame work, and is 
firmly pinned into the coral rock. The posts are 
slender but strong, and the action of the waves 
makes no impression on the small surface pre- 
sented to their fury in a storm. 

On Saturday, about 3 p. m., we entered the 
harbor of Key West, where our captain very 



KEY WEST. 3 

kindly remained until 9 p. m., to give the citizens 
the opportunity of enjoying the Campbell Min- 
strels, led by the gentlemanly and accomplished 
Rumsey — his troupe being a portion of our ship's 
company. The detention was no loss to us, as we 
could not enter the port of Havana before the 
morning gun from the Moro, and the arrangement 
enabled us to arrive just in due season. Upon 
passing the new fort, the minstrel band struck up 
their fine music, and blew their own trumpets to 
an anxious people. The island, Cayo hueso — the 
rock of bone (coral ?) — is about seven miles long 
and half a mile wide, while the settlement does 
not extend much beyond a mile. Here we saw 
the beautiful cocoa-nut tree laden with fruit, some 
of which regaled our company with its pleasant 
milk and rich pulp, — also the tamarind and other 
tropical fruits. In the unripe state the cocoa-nut 
contains about a pint of agreeable fluid, and the 
pulp is then so soft, that like cream, it is scraped 
out and eaten with sugar. Most of our ladies 
took a walk on shore, and saw the comfortable 
and spacious houses of the citizens, who number 
now about three thousand. On their return to 
the boat, they brought a profusion of beautiful 



4 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

flowers, among which were some magnificent 
roses. The absence of any public vehicle pre- 
vented our invalids enjoying the visit. The Gov- 
ernment fortifications now in progress are very 
extensive, though we learn not so much so as 
those being built at the Tortugas, about sixty 
miles distant. While here our caterer procured 
some of the King-fish, which is called the salmon 
of the South, — resembling, as we think, our fresh 
water trout, and very fine indeed. 

Invalids find good accommodation at a board- 
ing house here, where, however, there is no great 
A^ariety of fare, but those who enjoy fish and 
turtle will find good entertainment. The latter 
diet is very suitable for dyspeptics, though not 
formerly allowed. ^Nowadays rich animal diet is 
more appreciated than soup maigre. 

We left the island at 9 p. m., the minstrels 
having put the folks all in good humor. We in- 
quired what success was had, and were answered, 
"by the fall of some of the benches, a woman 
had a leg broke, and the people were delighted 
with the evening's performance." In our voyage 
to Key West, we coasted within the Gulf Stream, 
but now had to cross it, and during the night 



ENTRANCE TO HAVANA. 5 

the vessel rolled very considerably. At 7 next 
rooming, the heights of Cuba appeared, and at 
8 o'clock we saw our signals on the Moro, as 
we entered the beautiful bay. At the distance of 
a few miles, the numerous white houses look like 
patches of snow, but as you near them, you find 
many of varied colors, of which yellow, blue and 
green seem to be favorites. 

The scene as you enter the bay is enchanting ; 
you can scarcely believe the exquisite picture is 
-a reality. At the entrance, the rocky Moro lifts 
its craggy crest of brown stone high above you, 
with its guns ready to blow you out of the water, 
or rather into it, if you come with hostile intent ; 
while the Punta stands on the left, with the fort 
of Principe to assist in exterminating the daring 
invader. On the summit of the rock, the light- 
house is placed, with a revolving light which can 
be seen at the distance of twenty-five miles. The 
entrance between the Moro and Punta castles is 
about 1500 yards wide,- — its narrowest part about 
350 yards. The depth of water is about eight 
fathoms. From the Moro. the fortifications of the 
Oabanos extend around the semicircle of the bay 
to the city, and present a most formidable appear- 



,; CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

ance. Looking into the harbor, the tall shipping 
at the wharves, with their slender masts, contrast 
with the solid stone buildings, each one of which 
presents the appearance of a fortification. In the 
beautiful harbor, crowded with ships and steam- 
ers, prominent are the Spanish men-of-war, sev- 
eral of which we noticed as sixty and eighty 
gun ships. They present a handsome appear- 
ance, and show their hundreds of guns, poking 
their iron mouths out of the port-holes, ready for 
filibusters. 

Poco a poeo we neared the city, and our 
steamer steadily pressed on through the crowd of 
ships and boats to her usual anchorage, and there 
.stopped to receive the visits of the Government 
officers. The favorite Isabel is always welcome 
to the harbor. First, a small steamer brought a 
stern-visaged man, in blue frock and gold lace, 
who received from the captaiii a bundle of papers,, 
after examining which he nodded to him, and 
ordered his little steamer back to the shore. Then 
an individual in citizen's dress, with the most po- 
lite gesticulations, sat under the awning of his 
boat and received another bundle of papers, with 
the passports ; he then took his departure, and a 



HOTELS. Y 

third official now approached and received the 
mails, after which the steps were opened to the 
friends of parties on board, runners of hotels, &c. 
Qnite a difficulty existed in procuring rooms at 
the principal hotels, but finally we succeeded at 
the Hotel Cubano, kept by Mrs. Brewer, a lady 
well known to visitors from the States. Some of 
us who had a slight pretension to the Spanish 
language, were quite mystified at the distribution 
of a card in English ; 

"THE BOTH "WOKLD HOTEL. 
Num. 80 San Ignacio Street 

PLAZA VIEJA. 

"In this establishment set as the European 
style receives lodgers which will find an splendid 
assistance so in eating as in habitation, therefore 
the master count with the elements necessary." 

"We regretted having engaged lodgings, as 
being without appetite, we needed " an splendid 
assistance in eating," which would have been 
quite an agreeable acquisition to an invalid. 

We were soon surrounded by a crowd of small 
boats (guadafios) with awnings, to accommodate 
folks to go ashore, but a small steamer came 



8 CUBA FOft INVALIDS. 

alongside, to take passengers and trunks, which, 
after the transhipment, landed us on the Custom 
House wharf, where we came into custody of sol- 
diers in seer-suckers, with muskets and sombre- 
ros. Our baggage was taken into a long room, 
and every trunk and carpet-bag was opened. 
The inspection by the officers was not very rigid, 
but enough to disarrange their contents, and dis- 
turb their smooth packing, if it did not ruffle the 
feelings of the ladies. Saving passed the ordeal, 
each surrendered his passport, and paid $2 for a 
permit for thirty days to remain in "the ever 
faithful isle." 

Our hotel agent took charge of baggage, and 
placed us by twos in the queer-looking volante, 
which carried us safely to the hotel. Although 
often described before, I venture to give you a 
description of it. Fancy two shafts fifteen feet 
long, with a pair of wheels six feet in diameter, 
and a sort of chaise-body capable of holding 
three persons at one end, and a pony mounted by 
a grown negro in gold or silver livery and long 
jack-boots at the other. The ends of the shafts 
reach the saddle, and the pony is kept in by long 
traces, and two straps over the back. The pos- 



V"OLANTtJS. 9 

tillion or calesero has huge silver spurs and a long 
whip, which, as soon as you are seated, he plies 
freely, and away you go on a canter, soon drop- 
ping into a pace or trot. The wheels being high 
and the body low, with the horse six feet from it, 
it seems impossible to turn over, and the motion 
is easy and pleasant. You pay twenty cents to 
ride to any part of the city, the same for tWo as 
for one. The sight of these long lumbering 
vehicles, with the queerly^clressed negro postil^ 
lion, is very odd, and their name is legion. The 
quitrin is a variety of volante^ having a movable 
instead of a fixed top. The cost of these vehicles 
Varies from $400 to $800, and even higher, ac- 
cording to the mountings, which are often of 
silver, and not mere plate. Occasionally you 
meet a buggy or carriage— some very handsome — 
but they are not numerous. 

"We were very agreeably surprised to find our 
hotel fitted up in handsome style, well carpeted, 
and with every accommodation of bedsteads and 
mattresses, while many have only cots and sacking 
to sleep upon ; and we take pleasure in commend- 
ing the Hotel Cuoano as affording every accom- 
modation to the invalid, by the kind and attentive 



[0 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

hostess. The houses are built of stone, Mexican 
fashion, with an enclosed area at the entrance 
containing a fountain of water. Within the gate- 
way or porte eoehere, the only entrance you find, 
the volante is always kept. As you walk along 
the streets, you see the volantes in every large 
gate-way; and it is kept with more care, and cer- 
tainly much cleaner, than the children of the 
family. Most of the houses, especially those in 
which shops are kept, are of one story, and the 
windows, extending to the ground, are without 
glass, and enclosed with long iron rods and bars, 
slightly projecting, forming a protection, as well 
as giving the opportunity to look out into the 
street. Being low to the ground, as you pass you 
can see the families within, usually sitting on 
rocking-chairs in lines on each side of the win- 
dow, facing each other. In the evening the 
young ladies, dressed up finely, often take station 
at the grating, and receive the compliments of 
their friends in passing, many of whom they ar- 
rest and bring up to the bar to give an account 
of themselves. The ladies seldom go into the 
streets, and never alone, it being considered very 
indelicate to be without a gentleman— a party of 



CUBAN LADIES. H 

four or five, however, may walk on the Paseo 
without attracting special notice. The American 
ladies, though, do as they please, and wear hats, 
while the Cuban ladies use only a veil or mantilla 
over their heads. Five of the afternoon is the 
fashionable hour for the senoras and senoritas to 
turn out in their stylish volantes on the Paseo, and 
at eight they go to the Plaza de Armas to hear 
music. They mostly remain lolling in their 
vehicles, but sometimes they deign to promenade 
in the Plaza. The ladies, also, do all their shop- 
ping in their volantes, requiring the clerks to 
bring out their goods to them. 

Our impressions of the people and city will be 
contained in our next, currente cala/mo, as an in- 
valid has no time to digest descriptions and sen- 
tences — he has enough to do to try to digest a diet 
which is new to him, 



12 cujba for invalids, 



CHAFFEE II. 

tfHE DEEP. 

u There 's beauty in the deep.— - 
The wave is bluer than the sky : 
And though the light shine bright On high. 
More softly do the sea-gems glow, 
That sparkle in the depths below ; 
The rainbow's tints are only made 
When on the waters they are laid, 
And sun and moon most sweetly shine 
Upon the ocean's level brine. 
There 's beauty in the deep. 5 ' 

Trinidad, (Cuba,) January 27, 1860. 
On the arrival of the Isabel, among the visitors 
Who came aboard, was Col. "Wood,- the Manager 
and Business Director of Donetti's Trained Mon- 
keys. He told us that they were doing an inr- 
mense business, the receipts being about $1,800 
per day. He is said to have cleared upwards of 
$20,000 by this monkey-show. As We rode up in 
the volante from the Custom House, and met 
numbers of these queer vehicles, with the huge 
negro postillions in fantastic livery, gold and silver 



POSTILLIONS. 13 

lace, blue and red jackets, with hat-bands of the 
same, and large boots with long, huge, silver 
spurs on, the latter sometimes on bare heels, we 
could not avoid the idea that Donetti might get 
large recruits for his show at any turn in the 
street. The calesero is a machine — his motions 
are mechanical — and you call to him to give di- 
rections at starting or in motion, he goes ahead 
heeding the notice, but turning his head neither 
to the right or left to give any sign of hearing 
you. We met numbers of negroes in long blue 
coats, trimmed with red and other colored facings 
and cuffs, with cocked hats and broad bands upon 
their heads, and these, we were told, were dressed 
to attend a funeral! In every direction some 
ludicrous object presents itself, and really when 
the bells for church struck up their tin-panning, 
it seemed as if the whole city was a burlesque 
affair. Had we arrived three weeks earlier we 
would have witnessed the amusing and grotesque 
exhibition of el dia de los Beyes, which would 
have increased the ludicrous idea. On that day 
(6th of January) the several tribes of negroes 
have holiday, and choose their kings — they dress 
up in every variety of queer and singular cos- 



14 iTBA FOR INVALIDS. 

tume and character, and parade the streets in 
the enjoyment of their carnival. However, first 
impressions are not always the most correct. 

The houses, all of stone, with iron bars to the 
tall windows, and jail-like looking doors, seem 
impregnable fortresses, and impress one in a des- 
potic government with the idea of prisons being 
a large part of its polity, even in domestic and 
social life. These, with the espionage of crowds 
of soldiers with swords and muskets, at every 
corner, passports for coming or going, and posts 
with cannon all around, and the morning and 
evening guns of the military rule, give a fair spe- 
cimen of a military despotism. !No native of the 
island holds the most trivial office, or has any 
voice in public affairs — -judges and magistrates 
and officers of all kinds, or their families, and 
even the troops, must be from the old country,* 

Learning that the national sport of a bull light 
is now only occasional, and that the citizens were 
to be entertained this afternoon, in company with 
a friend, we determined to attend at the Plaza de 



* Since this was written, the new Captain General, in a liberal 
spirit, has given some minor offices to Cubans. 



BULL FIGHT. L5 

Toros. There were about a thousand persons 
present, though the seats of the circus open above, 
could have accommodated ten thousand. There 
were not over half a dozen ladies, and a few little 
girls in the crowd. At the sound of a trumpet in 
the upper gallery, the gates of the arena are 
thrown open, and a bull plunges in and runs 
around the circle, to all appearance excited by 
some means employed before he enters. Now 
come a few men in circus rider's costume, with 
colored flags, which they shake at him and run 
off, the bull sometimes pursuing the flag, and 
occasionally the man— who then runs to the side 
of the ring and jumps behind a sort of sentry-box, 
of which there are a dozen, and he is safe. Two 
piqueros (pike men) on miserable tackies with 
blinded eyes, follow the bull around, and with 
their long pikes endeavor to make him strike at 
the horses; but of five bulls which we saw, only 
one could be induced to gore the poor wretched 
animal before him — two or three times he struck 
at the rider, and came near unhorsing him. The 
~banderitteT08 (banner men) failing to excite the 
bull, then stick into his neck a parcel of barbed 
arrows charged with crackers, the explosion of 



16 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

which is calculated to enrage the worried animal; 
and when they stir him np to run after the men 
and the flags, great applause arises from the 
audience. If the bull cannot be induced to show 
fight, as was the case with several, the crowd jeers 
at him and calls loudly for him to be driven out. 
But when he has been sufficiently chased by the 
men with flags, or they have burnt out all their 
crackers, the matador comes in with his long- 
sword, and holding a red flag before his face and 
horns, as the bull attempts to pitch at him, he 
dexterously thrusts his weapon into his neck, and, 
when striking the spinal marrow, the poor beast 
falls dead. Out of four that we saw despatched, 
the first lunge only killed one, and in several 
cases there were four or five attempts before the 
bull fell. As soon as he falls, a sort of butcher 
comes in with a knife, and gives him the coup de 
grace in the spinal marrow, and he dies instantly. 
The sport is shockingly cruel, and one in which 
the sympathy of the audience ought to be with 
the wretched animals. The excitement of the bull 
is purely artificial, effected by goading, &c, there 
being no savage wildness or native ferocity about 
him, and he seems always watching to get out, 



COCK FIGHTS. 17 

until goaded by the pikes or arrows. As soon 
as the bull is killed, two men come in, with three 
mules covered with ornaments and bells, and they 
hitch them to his horns and drag him off at full 
speed, to make way for another. They usually kill 
six bulls before the cruel entertainment is closed. 
A gentleman at our hotel informed us that he 
once saw two men and seven horses killed at 
one funcion — they were hauled out and the en- 
tertainment continued ! The show is becoming 
less attended, and it is to be hoped will fall into 
such disrepute as to be abandoned soon. For- 
merly they had them once a week, now only 
occasionally. 

The Yalla de Gallos, or public cockpits, are 
situated in a large enclosure outside the walls. 
They consist of two amphitheatres, with benches 
around, a roof overhead, and a circular area in 
the middle. We however did not attend a cock- 
fight, but for the benefit of our readers copy a 
graphic description from Dr. Wurdeman, p. 89. 

"To see the cock-pit, one must devote to it the 

Sabbath, the chief day for the exhibition. As I 

passed along the road to it, I met many mounted 

monteros. Each had his long sword hanging 

2 



23 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

from his side, and a palm-basket under his arm, 
from which the head and neck of a game-cock 
protruded ; the sides being gently pressed to his 
body, kept his wings closed, and secured him from 
being jolted by the horse's motion. It was al- 
ready past twelve, the hour at which the sport 
commences, and as I passed through the gate, 
where stood a man collecting the entrance-money, 
I saw his table covered by the swords of those 
who had entered, the carrying any weapon into 
the pit being prohibited. 

"Surrounding this, standing or seated on the 
amphitheatre of benches, a crowd of whites, mu- 
lattoes and blacks were assembled; all dressed in 
clean attire, and intermingled without distinction 
of color. In a box sat three judges, as dignified 
as if about to try one of their own species for life 
or death ; while on the faces of the rest, each 
passing emotion of the mind was freely shown. 
Indeed, although I had visited all the hells of 
Paris — the gilded and licensed, as well as the 
obscure cellar in which the lowest did con- 
gregate — I had nowhere seen the inmost workings 
of the gambler's soul more fully exposed, than in 
the features of these spectators. Here, the warm 



COOK FIGHTS. 19 

sons of the South conceal none of the excitement 
the game produces; it is only modified by the 
temperament and education of each individual. 
The native of old Spain, his heart filled with the 
most perfect contempt of his Creole neighbors, 
amid his dignified demeanor, shows by his ges- 
tures the interest he feels in the scene before him. 
The latter, with no such restraint, expresses his 
feelings as they rise, in varied gesticulations and 
vociferations; while Afric's dusky son, perhaps 
but recently brought out of his native forests, 
with all his untamed passions rife within, under 
the terrible feelings of the gambler, enacts the 
perfect maniac. 

"Two birds were brought in, and having been 
weighed, their owners carried them around, ban- 
tering the spectators for bets, and occasionally 
permitting them to peck at each other. The 
sight of them, with the suddenness of an electric 
shock, seemed to rouse the latent passion in each 
bosom, and the place was immediately filled with 
tumultuous voices. Cries of offered bets re- 
sounded on all sides; 'una once on the black, una 
oncef a shake of the finger from one opposite, 
and the bet was accepted, without a word having 



2Q CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

been exchanged. ' Tres . onces por la plata f 
^no! dos onces,'' answers one, who had only two 
doubloons ; ' Tres onces, make it up among your 
friends;' and some adding eighths, some quarters, 
the sum was completed, and a nod informed the 
better that his offer was accepted. ' Cinco pesos, 
cinco pesos por la plata,' 'five dollars on the 
silver feathers,' 'cries a stout black, his body bent 
over the railing, his eyes protruded, and arm ex- 
tended, shaking his forefinger at eacli person, to 
find one to accept his offer ; ' cinco pesos, cinco 
pesos,'' he vociferates, in gestures and motion a 
perfect madman. Close by his side, another 
negro, intent on the same object, and anxious lest 
his rival should monopolize all the bets, with both 
arms extended, strives for the market by the 
force of his voice. Opposing banters from the 
backers of the other bird, in loud cries, are also 
heard, and the mingled voices in a continued din 
strike on the pained ear. One is surprised how 
accounts are kept, for no money is ever staked, 
and no witnesses called. A nod, or a shake of 
the finger, is the only pledge given, yet disputes 
never arise about it. 

"The bets are now taken, the two birds are 



GOCK FIGHTS. 21 

pitted, and all but their owners retire without the 
enclosure. They commence fighting as soon as 
placed on the ground, and the now silent crowd, 
with outstretched necks, gaze intently on them, 
Not a sound is heard, but the blows given by the 
wings of the birds; but a lucky gash from the 
spur of one sets all voices again going, and odds 
are freely asked and taken. This was repeated 
several times, whenever one seemed to gain a 
decided advantage, until no doubt remained of 
the victor. The betters then looked on listlessly, 
as the triumphant bird followed closely his de- 
feated adversary, which, now retreating, now 
attempting to ward off the blows, faintly and 
more faintly returned them, until completely 
exhausted he sank down, and unresistingly re^ 
ceived the continued attacks of the other until 
life was extinct. The victor now exulted in loud 
crowings over the dead bird, but he was not per- 
mitted long to enjoy his triumph; for the owner, 
with his mouth filled with aguardiente, squirted 
the smarting fluid into his eyes and throat, and 
on all his wounds, sucking the whole bleeding 
head repeatedly. The combat lasted nearly a, 
half hour, for gaffs are not used ; but no signs of 



22 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

impatience were exhibited, and but little interest 
was taken in the fate of the birds themselves, 
independent of that of the bets connected with 
theirs." 

At present the Rumsey Troupe of Minstrels, 
and the Monkey Show, are dividing with the 
Grand Opera and Theatre the attention of the 
Havaneros. There is also a large Circus Com- 
pany here, for whom were brought over in the 
Isabel some thirteen horses, the remains of 
Yankee Robinson, who was sold out at Charleston. 
The cost of bringing a horse from Charleston to 
Havana is $40, and the duty $50, though for 
breeding purposes they are passed free. 

For two days the raw and disagreeable norther 
has made us very uncomfortable, and, accompa- 
nied by showers, has confined us to the hotel. 
Upon inquiry as to a pleasant retreat in the 
country, we find that the hotel of San Antonio 
has been abandoned, and that at Guinea is a mis- 
erable affair, kept by a mulatto, and totally unfit 
for invalids. Unless provided with letters to 
private gentlemen in the country, the invalid has 
no chance of any comfort, or even to find a place 
to stop at. By the advice of a friend we deter- 



ROYAL PALM. 23 

mined to try the climate of the south side of the 
island — a longer way off than usually is visited — 
that of Trinidad, where there is said to be a 
soft, pure air, and pleasant temperature, and 
where northers are never felt, and a good hotel 
is kept. 

At 6 next morning, we found the rail cars 
ready to start, a long train, and very much 
crowded. Our road branched off at San Felipe, 
and at 10 a. m., we arrived at Batabano, a ship- 
ping port, on the bay of Broa, some fifty miles 
from Havana. The country we passed through 
seemed mostly of vegetable gardens, though we 
saw groves of cocoa nuts, and fields of pine apples, 
with quantities of a species of palmetto. The 
stately palm towered above all, and seemed to 
shew an aristocratic influence of protection, scat- 
tered as it was over the fields. 

"Its feathery tufts like plumage rare; 
Its stem so high, so strange, so fair." 

In some places there were groves of them, 
which are much valued, both on account of 
the wood for building, and the bark below the 
leaves for thatching — most of the farm houses 
being covered by it. The fruit, or nuts, called 



24 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

palmiche, is used for feeding hogs, and is quite 
an important article in that relation ; a kind of 
cabbage is found at the top of the tree, which is 
boiled and much relished. 

At Batahano we entered a fine large steamer 
called Rcqyido, which goes to Oienfuegos and 
Trinidad, arriving at the former at midnight, and 
the latter next day to dinner. "We had a cool 
stateroom, the bottom of the berths being of open 
straw, and a blanket the adjunct. A large corn- 
pan y of Spaniards and Creoles occupied the upper 
saloon deck with us, and a considerable sprinkling 
of Los Yanghees, who are found everywhere. 
Breakfast was served at 10J a. m., and consisted 
of a very great variety of meats — beef, mutton, 
veal, ham, chickens, and fish of various sorts, 
cooked in many disguises — and vegetables too 
numerous to mention. You could get along very 
well if you could find out what you were eating. 
Breaded mutton chops made of pork — a very suc- 
cessful imitation — were very good, and rice was 
properly cooked. Decanters of Catalan wine, or 
Spanish claret, were abundant, and Rarsac, or 
Sauteme, at your call without extra charge, and 
cqfe-fuerte was handed round after the cloth was 



SPANISH POLITENESS. 25 

removed. The Catalan wine lias more body, is a 
stronger wine than French claret, and is usually 
drank diluted with an equal part of water. It is 
less liable to become acid, aucl agrees better with 
dyspeptics. It is universally drank in the island, 
and you meet with it every where. While at 
table, gentlemen lighted their segars, and were 
polite in offering them to strangers. Two of our 
ladies got into conversation with a Spanish youth 
who spoke English, and asking him some ques- 
tions about cigarettos, he presented a paper of 
them to one, and refused to receive it again — such 
being a custom here, and it is considered ill man- 
ners to refuse any thing offered. 

We steamed along the southern coast in sight 
of land during the whole voyage, and enjoyed a 
delightful gentle breeze, very soft and refreshing, 
after the ugly norther at Havana. The light pea- 
green of the water was very beautiful, and the 
loose, distinct clouds floating in the transparent 
sky, gave us pleasant ideas of a tropical region. 

"It is a goodly sight to see 

What Heaven has done for this delicious land ! 
What fruits of fragrance blush on every tree ! 
What goodly prospects o'er the hills expand!" 



26 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

There was a company of soldiers on board — - 
yellow fellows, with seer-suckers and sombreros, 
and marked by red cloth epaulets. They were 
lying at ease in the forward part of the lower 
deck, among negroes and lighting cocks and 
horses. At a long table some were playing mcnte, 
for small sums, with women, imitating the com- 
pany in the upper saloon, where publicly the dons 
were putting down doubloons on the cards, and 
looking as cool and imperturbable when losing as 
wmen winning. Among the employes on board 
were several coolies, who seem to be used for 
every purpose, and are active and intelligent. 
There being no stewardess, the ladies bad a coolie 
boy as fille de chambre, w T ho seemed to know his 
duties. Dinner was similar to breakfast, only 
more so — mucho-fuerte — large dishes of meat and 
fish, and vegetables in abundance. After dinner, 
the dessert consisted of preserves, guava, &c, 
cheese, a sort of pudding, and a variety of nuts; 
after which cups were placed at each plate, and 
waiters — one with hot cafe-fuerte, the o'tlier with 
hot milk — followed each other, to give you the 
proportion as you preferred it. Tea is carried up 
to the saloon at 9 p. m., but it is a miserable 



TRINIDAD. 27 

attempt. Dunn g the morning, pitchers of orange- 
ade, from sweet oranges, and bora, a sort of beer 
and water mixture, sweetened, are placed on the 
table for general use. 

Our steamer landed at Cienfuegos, at 1 a. m., 
on Thursday, but we remained on board. On 
Friday, after a pleasant run alongside the moun- 
tains of Trinidad, from Cienfuegos to Trinidad, 
we reached the latter place at 3| p. m., having 
found a car at Casilda, its port, ready to receive 
us, from whence a ride of three miles brought us 
to the city, the cleanest we have seen in Cuba. 
It is built on the side of the mountain, and beau- 
tifully situated. 



28 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 



CHAPTER III. 

" To regions where, in spite of sin and woe, 
Traces of Eden are still seen below ; 
Where mountain, river, forest, field and grove, 
Remind him of his Maker's power and love." 

Trinidad, January 28, 1860. 
Cienfuegos is the most regularly built city in 
Cuba, being laid out at right angles. It is situ- 
ated on the bay of Jagua, " the finest port in the 
world," as the Cubans say, having an area of 
fifty-six miles, and a very narrow but deep en- 
trance, of course protected by a fort, Los Angeles. 
The city has about six thousand inhabitants, a 
school, a theatre, and a newspaper. It has wide 
streets, and about one thousand houses. The 
climate is very salubrious, and there is what is 
called a good hotel. It is quite a trading place, 
and here we met several more Los Yanghees, 
looking after sugar and molasses. It is about two 
hundred and twenty miles from Havana. Our 
steamer remained several hours, enabling pas- 
sengers to visit the city. 



A LADY'S TRUNK. 29 

A young lady from Philadelphia came in our 
steamer, to become a governess at an ingenio, or 
sugar plantation, of Mr. H., about sixteen miles 
off. He was quite delighted to meet her, but his 
countenance fell when he saw her huge trunk. 
He said, if there were two smaller ones, he could 
carry them on a horse, like panniers, as they do 
everything here ; but one large heavy trunk could 
not be disposed of, as it would require a barrel of 
sugar to balance it, and this would be too heavy 
a load for a horse. After some difficulty, how- 
ever, he found a schooner going within a short 
distance of his ingenio, and soon we noticed the 
trunk on a pile of sugar hogsheads en route. 
Travelers in Cuba, who expect to leave the rail- 
road routes, should have such packages as can be 
disposed of on horseback, as that is the common 
mode of traveling. Mr. H., with true Spanish 
politeness, invited us to visit him, but his estate 
was too much out of the way, and we returned 
to the .Rajpido, for Trinidad, where we arrived to 
dinner at 5 p. m. 

We have a fine hotel, in usual style, with 
quadrangular open area, and marble floors — the 
chambers have similar floors, and the cots have 



30 CUBA FOR IN VAL1DS. 

sacking and no mattresses. The house is ad- 
mirably situated, overlooking the grand plaza de 
armas, which is smoothly paved, and filled with 
enclosures of iron railing, containing the most 
beautiful flowers. Roses are abundant and in 
full bloom, and the banana tree loaded with fruit. 
Cocoa-nuts and palms, and a large variety of 
beautiful tropical plants, are to us novel and 
attractive. On Thursday and Sunday evenings, 
the Regimental Band, of seventy performers, dis- 
courses delightful music to the senoras and 
senoritas, who favor the plaza with their pres- 
ence. They play several pieces from some fine 
opera — last night, from Traviata — then a waltz 
and a country dance, the latter grandly stirring, 
with the full band, and close with a grand 
march, and retire. In all the principal cities and 
towns of Cuba, this musical soiree is a public 
institution; at Havana, they are held every 
evening, amuse the people, and stimulate the 
bands to perfect themselves in difficult pieces. 
Nothing is more refreshing than to sit in the cool 
plaza and enjoy 

" Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not." 



BELLS. 31 

Invalids bear exposure to the soft night breeze 
with little risk of taking cold. We saw no one 
with a cold while at Trinidad. 

Quite near us is the cathedral, whence the 
everlasting bells are constantly pealing forth. 
Day-dawn is ushered in with a sort of Fourth of 
July rapidity of chime, which awakens all new 
comers in the neighborhood, and every now and 
then they burst out with vehemence and beat 
furiously. This morning they poured forth so 
long and rapidly, that at 6 o'clock we walked out 
into our piazza, and found a constant succession 
of females, white and black, going to matins. 
They all wear shawls and veils, or mantillas, 
with which the bonnetless head is covered — the 
ladies every variety of lace, and the blacks what- 
ever they can get. Among the passers were the 
young girls of a convent school, in white, hoop- 
less, with white mantillas, and those of an 
ordinary school, in every variety of costume, 
some very rich, and most of them with fashion- 
able crinoline. On their return they passed 
through the plaza, and the sight of the little 
girls, with richly variegated shawls, among the 
flowers, was very striking. At eight we went to 



gg CUBA FOE INVALIDS. 

the Cathedral, and there found a large crowd of 
ladies, with few men, but many black females, at 
mass. The devout behavior of the congre- 
gation, the rich tones of the organ, with the 
occasional intermission for the priest, and the 
chant following, were very impressive. When 
the service was concluded, the ladies came out, 
most of them followed by a boy or girl, with 
their mat and chair, which are always carried to 
the church, there being no seats on the marble 
floor. In this Cathedral is a picture of Christ 
hearing the cross — which is truly fine. 

Trinidad is a beautiful city, built on the side 
near the base of Mount Yijia — forming quite 
an amphitheatre. It contains sixteen thousand 
inhabitants, and two thousand five hundred 
houses — built in the same style as those of 
Havana — of stone, with bow windows, protected 
by iron rods and bars, though we observed many 
with the grating of wood. Glass windows are 
scarcely known even in the cities. The rooms 
are 16 to 20 feet high, and full of large doors 
and windows, w T hile the floors are of marble or 
tiles. 

In 1852, the number of deaths was only 



CLIMATE OF TRINIDAD. 33 

354, while there were 834 births, and 79 mar- 
riages. It is a very healthy place, no clonbt 
owing much to its great cleanliness, though 
seldom swept but by rains, and its slope prevent- 
ing any accumulation of water. Upon inquiry, 
we learn that the yellow fever in Summer is rare 
and slight. The atmosphere is soft and balmy, 
and very grateful to lungs that have been op- 
pressed by the cold air of the North. The air is 
so genial and pleasant, and the temperature 
moderate, that we are surprised at there being so 
few invalids here. The hotel keepers in Havana 
are interested in preventing it, by informing 
visitors that Havana is a fair specimen of the 
climate of Cuba, which is a mistake. About 
three years ago, there were many from our 
Northern States. 

The only house kept here is capable of being 
made a fine one, but at present there is no female 
chamber-maid in it, and the fare is not as well 
cooked as we would desire, but considered very 
fine for Cuba. To-day we dined well on lamb 
and green peas. One, however, can get eggs 
and rice, bread and potatoes, and will find green 
peas, corn, fried plantains, salsify and many 
3 



34 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

other eatable vegetables— the meats are usually 
too highly seasoned, and cooked with Spanish 
oil; and when you rise you have cafe sin leche y 
pure; but at breakfast you have cafe an lait, 
which is always good; after dinner it is 
given without milk. Fried plantains are very 
nice, and one may breakfast on them freely — ■ 
they are very like our sweet potatoe when so 
cooked. Fruit is delightful, and oranges, ba- 
nanas, guana van a, mamelles and cocoa-nuts 
abundant ; as yet we have seen no others. The 
city is badly supplied with water, though they 
have it raised by an engine, but most of it is 
brought in jugs from the country, four of two 
gallons each on horseback, at about a cent a 
gallon; while fine springs of cool water are abun- 
dant in the mountains within a mile, needing 
only pipes and a reservoir to supply it abun- 
dantly. The people of Cuba, however, are inert 
and destitute of enterprise — caring for nothing 
but making money and spending it. The water 
however (limestone) is very good. 

We see here, as in Havana, immense moving 
masses of green corn fodder, stalk and blades, in 
the street, looking like a stack in motion ; upon 



FINE RESIDENCE. 35 

nearing them, however, you discover a pony's 
head sticking out in front, and find him loaded 
with some 250 or 300 pounds, of what, supplies 
daily food to all the horses and mules in the 
city — Maloja — which is dealt out in bundles by 
the Mdlojero. Yegetables and country produce, 
fruit and sugar-cane, and even beef and meats 
and coal, are brought on horses in panniers — so 
heavily loading the poor creatures that they 
walk as if foundered in the fore-legs ; in addition 
to the heavy load, a big negro surmounting it. 

By the kind aid of ¥m. Sidney Smith, Esq., 
British Yice Consul, so well known from his 
sympathy with the ill-fated Lopez party, we 
visited the magnificent residence of old Mr. 
Baker, who, a native of Philadelphia,* has lived 
sixty years here. It is a most elegant establish- 
ment, built in the usual style of Spanish houses, 
marble and mahogany being the chief materials 



* Sir John Becker, excellentissimo, has since died. In 
consequence of constant infringement on his estates by his 
neighbors, he purchased a title from the Spanish Government, 
which gave him the privilege of transferring to Spain any litiga- 
tion which he had, where his chances of redress were better 
than in his location. He leaves some $4,000,000 worth of 
property to be contested for by two sets of children. 



36 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

in its construction. The apartments are nume- 
rous and elegantly finished, many of the best 
workmen from Europe and the United States 
having been employed on it. The drawing-room 
and ante-room are paved in mosaic, of pieces the 
size of a ten cent piece, which occupied six years 
in polishing down to the proper level. Even 
the open area is paved with marble, as well as 
the piazza around it, in the second story. The 
house is elegantly furnished, and cost $400,000, 
but like the buildings generally, is filthy in the 
extreme, and looks as if it had not been cleaned 
in many years. It is mournful to see such 
neglect — but these people have great ideas of 
building fine houses, and when built, they are 
left to take care of themselves. They are as 
inert as they can be, and the servants are much 
worse. As we entered the porta cocker e, or 
vestibule, we met some of the small children, 
in their usual costume, a pair of red shoes, and 
nothing else. One of them, about three years 
old, came up and shook hands with my friend, 
and walked up stairs and took the hand of a 
grown sister, conversing with us, who seemed to 
consider him all right, and this in a magnificent 



PHOTOGRAPHS. 37 

establishment of one of the richest men in the 
island! In the streets, at every turn, you meet 
nurses with children in similar costume. Water 
is considered dangerous in this climate, hence 
children are seldom washed, and ladies use a 
towel with aguardiente to rub their faces and 
necks with. If you ask in the country for a 
basin of water to wash your hands, they bring it 
warm, and with it a bottle of aguardiente^ which 
is very cheap, costing about five cents. 

We have in our hotel a distinguished photo- 
graphist from New York, who has an elegant 
establishment in Broadway. He says the diffi- 
culties between the North and South have 
affected every branch of business so much, that 
he has been forced to come to Cuba for some- 
thing to do. He made a lucky hit in taking the 
Captain General and his beautiful lady, and he 
is "going ahead" furiously. He has a room in 
Havana, another here, and has just sent two of 
his men to open one at Cienfuegos. He has five 
artists finishing up his pictures at this place, and 
subjects are coming in rapidly. Colored photo- 
graphs have never been taken here before, and 
the population being a rich one, our friend will 



38 CUBA FOE INVALIDS. 

draw a crowd, and while drawing them out, will 
draw in the onces, which are abundant among 
the wealthy Creoles. ~We dropped in to-day at 
his room and found him taking the newly arrived 
Governor of this department, who was in full 
rig. The pictures of life size are very fine, but 
would be to us dolorously dear at ten ounces. 

The officials have been "considerably exer- 
cised," in the last few days, at a reported victory 
of the Spanish army over the Moors, at Tetuan, 
and as they take every opportunity of magnify- 
ing the prowess of their great and invincible 
Government, the Governor authorized a brilliant 
demonstration at the theatre, last evening, in 
honor of the victory. Everybody had to go to 
show loyalty, hence the house was crowded. 
The Keller Troupe entertained the company with 
their superb tableaux mvants, and being close 
by, we ventured to look in upon -Columbus 
Landing in Cuba, but the crowded house and 
densely suffocating smoke of segars gave us but 

little time to do more than notice the magnifi- 
es 

cent dresses of the senoras and senoritas, beyond 
anything we have seen elsewhere. The lustrous 
eyes, exquisitely penciled eye-brows in the 



CUBAN WOMEN. 39 

beautiful foreheads, and the well formed busts, 
are very marked in the Spanish ladies. Their 
complexions are olive without any tinge of red-— 
their stature fine models, and their hair jet black 
and exquisitely luxuriant, but we saw no really 
beautiful women among them. In the last act, 
when the attack upon the Moors was signalized, 
there were fifty soldiers on the stage, besides the 
acting troupe, and we learn that the cheering 
was immense, in proportion to the greatness of 
the achievement of Spanish valoi\ It is well 
the celebration took place before the full ac- 
counts of the battle are received, as it is proba- 
ble the success of the Spanish army is only in 
the Government paper. 

A subscription has just been started in sup- 
port of the war, headed by the Captain General 
with $4,000, of his salary of $50,000. His 
pickings,, however, will soon make it up. If 
rumor be true that Concha received an ounce 
($17) for each negro landed last year, that alone 
yielded $680,000. 

Everybody is required to subscribe, as appears 
by the following circular issued by the Governor 



40 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

of Matanzas, a copy of. which we accidentally 
procured : 

"Political Administration and Presidency of 
the Council and Committee for Subscriptions 
and Means for the War in Africa. 

" Inhabitants of Matanzas: 

"The illustrious Council of this city, and Com- 
mittee for Subscriptions and Means for the "War 
in Africa, established in this city by decree of 
the Supreme Government of the Island, have 
directed themselves to you, through me, with 
the sweet confidence that is inspired by a loyal 
and enlightened people, who has never failed to 
show its patriotic ardor and its enthusiasm for 
all that is noble and worthy. 

"The Spanish Nation, to whom you belong, 
descended of the same race of men who twice, 
by their resistance to the advance of the Moslem, 
have proved the bulwark of civilization and of 
Christianity in Europe, embraced with the sacred 
desire of maintaining that honor, which animated 
it amidst the smoking ruins of Zaragossa and 
those of Saguntus two thousand years before — 



PROCLAMATION. 41 

and of which the love burns brightly in the 
bosom of its sons — has embraced fervently the 
occasion to offer to her Majesty's Government 
resources to prosecute the war waged against 
the empire of Morocco to obtain the redress of 
repeated insults to the national honor. 

"Inhabitants of Matanzas, the citizens of the 
capital of this rich and fertile Antilla, have 
emulously come forward with funds to second 
the noble impulse, the generous and ardent 
patriotism of our brethren in the Peninsula, and 
certainly you will not be the last to follow this 
glorious example, thus giving positive proof of 
your spirit of nationality and of the ardent 
desire you have, of contributing your share of 
the expenses of the bloody struggle already 
commenced by our valiant army, which, under 
the guidance of experienced and renowned 
chiefs, must obtain the triumph inseparable of 
all great and just causes. 
Signed, 

"The Governor, President of the Council. 
PEDKO ESTEVAK 

"Matanzas, 23d of January, 1860." 



42 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

This address, with an accompanying printed 
circular, is forwarded to every inhabitant per- 
sonally; fixing the amount of subscription equal 
to the yearly tax paid by each one, with as much 
more added as the ardent patriotism of each 
may suggest. The amount of the positive proof, 
in gold and silver, with any remarks one wishes 
to make, is written in the margin of the circular, 
which is to be returned, thus preventing mistakes 
which otherwise might occur. Mostly do we 
admire the forethought with which, fearing the 
Cubanos might possibly, in their ardor for their 
mother-land, be tempted to ruin themselves, the 
sagacious Council has kindly fixed the amount 
of their subscription. Please, gentlemen, walk 
up to the Captain's office and settle ! 

Fiestas are frequent; three days of the last 
week having been celebrated in honor of some 
saint. We attended one at a neat little chapel, 
on a hill, approached by a hundred feet of ter- 
races. On each side of the way were seats of 
masonry, filled with the crowd of ladies mostly. 
Two priests passed, with long segars in their 
mouths, and we followed to the door of the 



FINE MUSIC. 43 

church, as it was filled. The altar was beauti- 
fully illuminated with hundreds of candles, and 
soon the priests commenced a chant; after 
every few sentences, the fine orchestral band 
struck up, and played long pieces of exquisite 
music, occasionally assisted by the voices of 
many boys. The chief service was this fine 
music, excepting that whenever it ceased, the 
three bells were rung with great vehemence* 
As the service was closed, the band struck up 
a lively tune, very like a country dance, and 
the people retired, amidst the firing of crackers 
and fire-works. Next day was another holiday, 
and the tongues of the bells were in motion all 
day. 

In reply to an enquiry of a Cuban friend, as 
to the name of this chapel, he writes: 

"The name of the 'church' is Nuestra Senora 
de la Candelaria de la Pojpa ! ' Pojpa ' signifies 
stern, and as Nuestra Senora, (&c, is located on 
such a commanding position in the rear of the 
town, you will perceive that it is by no means 
inappropriately named. Of course you are 
aware that we have a Saint for every day in the 



44 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

calendar, and sometimes half-a-dozen ; at Havana, 
they have instituted two new ones, which are 
unknown elsewhere. In the church of St. 
Augustine there are two Virgin Marys, one is 
white, the other is of a mulatto color. At 
Regla> the Madonna is black — once a year the 
latter is carried in state through the town, 
attended by the Admiral and all the officers of 
the fleet, which is placed under her especial 
protection. Her last appearance was extremely 
grand; she wore a tunic of very rich silver 
brocade, trimmed with white ostrich feathers, 
her train was of crimson velvet, edged with gold 
lace, whilst her brow was enriched by a magni- 
ficent tiara of pearls and diamonds, which pro- 
duced a very brilliant effect as they glistened in 
the sun; the tout ensemble would have been 
really elegant, but for her crinoline, which had 
been so carelessly put on as to cause people to 
make remarks! Amidst the roar of cannon from 
the Spanish ships-of-war, at anchor in the harbor, 
the enlivening strains of military music, and 
attended by the elite of the city, with an escort 
of half a regiment of soldiers, her black Saint- 



BLACK SAINT. 45 

ship was promenaded through the streets of the 
city, which were strewn with branches of palm 
leaves, of flowers, and filled with thousands of 
kneeling devotees, dressed in their gayest ap- 
parel!" 

Cock-fights are here as popular as in Havana, 
and as frequent. 



46 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 



CHAPTEE IT. 

"The breath of ocean wanders thro' their vales, 
In morning breezes and in evening gales. 
Earth from her lap perennial verdure pours, 
Ambrosial fruits and amarynthine flowers. 
Over wild mountains and luxuriant plains, 
Nature in all the pomp of beauty reigns." 

Trinidad de Cuba, February 4, 1860. 
The country around Trinidad presents as beau- 
tiful scenery as can be found on the island. 
Less than a mile from the city, is the country- 
seat, or quinta, or Senor Justo Cantero, one 
of the wealthiest citizens, who owns sugar 
estates, ingenios, and much property in the city. 
His excellent lady is widely known for her 
extensive charities to the poor. We procured a 
volante for a ride before breakfast, and visited 
this picturesque residence. The entrance is 
through an immense iron gate, and the avenue 
is lined with the stately palm and alame, alter- 
nating. The house is a modification of a city 



CANTERO'S QUINTA. 47 

house — a sort of cottage ornee, with a large 
veranda in front. At the back, the whole 
extent to the river, some sixty or seventy yards, 
is covered by immense bamboos, planted at the 
sides and meeting above, which, with their 
leaves, shade the surface, where a table remains, 
at which 380 persons recently dined with the 
Captain General. The house is handsomely fur- 
nished, and one of the rooms — fitted up for the 
Condesa Serrano, the beautiful wife of the Cap- 
tain General — has the ornamental artificial roses 
still all over its walls. Several well-executed oil 
paintings, of the proprietor's ingenios, are hang- 
ing in the parlor, with a number of beautiful 
colored engravings in other rooms and out in 
the veranda. The garden is filled with every 
variety of tree of the island — the immense 
ceyba, the beautiful mango, filled with small 
fruit, the almond tree, lignum vitas, with quanti- 
ties of cocoa-nuts, palms and oranges. The rich 
banana and the fragrant pine apple attract your 
notice, with flowers of every description in full 
bloom. At a short distance from the house, a 
small river runs, of water as clear as crystal, 



48 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

about four feet deep, and you descend to it by 
stone steps from the bathing-house on the bank — 
the whole shaded by the immense bamboos, 
previously noticed. So cool and delightful a 
retreat from the sun has advantages and attrac- 
tions in this climate that render it a most grate- 
ful refuge. The garden is in bad order, and 
seems not to be as properly cared for as it should 
be, and the roses and plants are destroyed most 
extensively by a large red ant, (bihe agua,) which 
we saw in myriads. The orange trees are also 
suffering seriously from the ravages of an insect 
which is ruining them. Among the trees, we 
were shown that which produces the forbidden 
fruit, Toronja, and had fine specimens of the 
fruit, which is not much valued, though when 
fresh it is juicy and pleasant. Beautiful walks 
among the various groves, are ornamented with 
jets d'eaux and fountains, handsomely arranged, 
and shell grottoes are met in the densely shaded 
shrubbery. 

" Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm, 
Others whose fruit, burnished with golden rind, 
Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true, 
If true, here only, and of delicious taste." 



MILKING COWS. 49 

Having amused ourselves sufficiently in this 
fine retreat, we entered the volante and drove 
about two miles to the quintet of a brother 
of Senor Cantero. Here we found another 
pretty place, with bathing-house and stream, 
and groves of fine trees and flowers in bloom. 
The Senora very kindly showed us around, and 
when about to leave, she sent her son with two 
large goblets to a cow tied not far off, and he 
filled them in our presence with fresh milk, 
which he promptly presented, smoking and foam- 
ing. Having bid actios and mil garcias, we 
resumed our vehicle and returned to the city, in 
time for breakfast at the usual hour of 10J- a. m . 

We did not mention the custom in Havana 
and other cities of driving the cow around to 
serve customers with pure milk taken from her 
at their doors. It strikes strangers very oddly 
to see it in the streets. 

We walk usually before breakfast and after 
dinner, and lie about the marble halls during the 
day, reading, writing, and enjoying bananas and 
oranges, with the sweet breeze, which is seldom 
absent. The climate disposes to siestas, which 



5Q CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

come iii generally about 1 o'clock, as dinner is 
not ready until 5 o'clock. 

Ballon, in a Cuban reverie, says : 

"There seems to be, at times, a strange nar- 
cotic influence in the atmosphere of the island, 
more especially inland, where the visitor is par- 
tially or wholly removed from the winds that 
usually blow from the Gulf in the after part of 
the day. So potent has the writer felt this 
influence, that at first it was supposed to be the 
efTect of some powerful plant that might abound 
upon the plantations; but careful enquiry satis- 
fied him that this dreamy somnolence, this 
delightful sense of ease and indolent luxuriance 
of feeling, was solely attributable to the natural 
efTect of the soft climate of Cuba. By gently 
yielding to this influence, one seems to dream 
while waking; and while the sense of hearing 
is diminished, that of the olfactories appears to 
be increased, and pleasurable odors float upon 
every passing zephyr. One feels at peace with 
all nature, and a sense of voluptuous ease over- 
spreads the body." 

This afternoon, we walked to the cemetery, 



CEMETERY. 51 

which is now a neat grave yard, within brick 
and plastered walls, with quite a pretty little 
chapel for religious services. The enclosure is 
partly occupied with vaults, about seven feet by 
five, ten feet deep, and covered by a heavy 
marble slab, with rings, with the name of the 
owner upon it. They are very close together, 
and in them coffins are placed, one upon another. 
The remainder of the yard is used for graves of 
those who cannot afford a vault. Bodies are 
buried about three feet deep, and usually without 
a coffin. They are allowed to remain nine 
months, when the bones are taken up to make 
way for others, and are thrown into an enclosure 
in a corner — a sort of Golgotha — which we saw 
filled with skulls and bones. The cemetery was 
much neglected, and a miserable place, until the 
worthy English Consul, W. Sidney Smith, Esq., 
took up the work of reformation, and by his 
influence induced some attention to the care of 
the dead, and to him is due the chapel and the 
enclosing brick wall. The space being neces- 
sarily limited, however, and no burials allowed 
elsewhere, the disgusting practice of removing 
the bones is constantly required. 



52 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

We have been much struck with the number 
of blind persons we meet in the street, and find 
that inflammation of the eyes runs its course very 
rapidly in this climate. The practice of painting 
the houses yellow, blue and green is said to 
have arisen from the unpleasant effect of the 
glare from white, which is now always avoided. 
The curious variety of colors often seen on a 
house, makes a very odd appearance, while it is, 
however, very picturesque. Some of the streets 
have fine trees along the side-walks, but it is not 
general, as it should be in such a climate. 



COUNTRY TOWNS. 53 



CHAPTER Y. 

" Hast thou e'er seen a garden clad 
In all the robes that Eden had, 
Or vale o'erspread with streams and trees, 
A Paradise of mysteries ; 
Plains with green hills adorning them> 
Like jewels in a diadem?" 

Trinidad de Cuba, February 6, 1860. 

The climate of Havana is not suitable for 
invalids from the North. In addition to the 
numerous causes of excitement in that gay city, 
the northers are very distressing to the lungs, 
and the charge of $4 per day to the pocket. 
Persons in ill health should seek the country air, 
and on the south side of the island, where 
northers are not felt. The difficulty of procuring 
accommodation is very great ; at San Antonio, 
the hotel is closed ; at Guines, it is a miserable 
affair; at Cardenas, tolerable; at Sagua la 
Grande, there is no house of entertainment. 

Trinidad is somewhat distant from Havana, 
but you go in less than two days, being one night 



54 CUBA FOE INVALIDS. 

in a first-rate steamer, with good state-rooms, and 
a very fair table. You leave by the railroad on 
"Wednesday morning, at six o'clock, and reach 
Batabano at ten, where you embark in the fine 
steamer jRapido, formerly an East River packet. 
Kext day at 3 p. m. you reach Trinidad. The 
city is beautifully situated on the side of a 
mountain, and seldom without a delightful 
breeze. The temperature is equable, and varies 
from 73° to 80°. An engineer on the railroad 
here gave me the following record: December 3, 
73°; December 4, 73°; December 10, 73°; De- 
cember 11, 70°; December 18, 67°— the coldest 
day this winter. The sea is in front and the 
mountains in the rear of the city — the slope 
being nearly 400 feet to the sea; hence you have 
either a mountain air or the sea breeze, which is 
soft and genial, bearing on its bosom a delicious 
languor, which we suppose is the dolcefar niente 
of the poet. Its soothing influence upon an 
irritable system does more than medicine, be- 
cause its medication is combined with lightness 
of atmosphere, containing a reduced amount of 
oxygen for the combustion which wears out life 
in such cases. 



TRINIDAD. 55 

The Hotel de la Grande Antilla, the only one 
here, is now, since the 1st inst., in the hands of 
Hons. Bernard, who had the reputation of 
keeping one of the finest houses in Havana. He 
has a cook of great celebrity, and the table is 
excellently served and attended. There are some 
privations in the house to Northern habits, but 
the host seems very desirous to have everything 
arranged to the satisfaction of his guests. 

Trinidad is the cleanest city we have seen, 
being paved, and washed by every rain. It is 
entirely free from dust, and is remarkably quiet, 
except that the bells of the cathedral and 
churches remind one constantly of their services. 
On two evenings of the week, the military band 
plays, in the plazas, delightful music from the 
best operas; and there is always some amuse- 
ment or other at the theatre for those who can 
enjoy them. Country seats or sugar plantations 
in the neighborhood may be visited, and the 
beautiful vegetation of the island seen to great 
advantage. To those who prefer the entire quiet 
of the country, an opportunity exists for accom- 
modation at a quinta, two miles from town, 
which has just been rented to Mr. Cascelles for 



5§ CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

a house for visitors. It is in a "beautiful neigh- 
borhood, and has the luxury of a fine "bath-house. 
On the whole, we know no more desirable a 
place for invalids to pass the cold months ; and 
finding great benefit and pleasure in its gentle 
breezes and agreeable temperature, we cordially 
recommend it to our friends who may visit 
Cuba. 

Having been deeply impressed with the equa- 
bility and mild temperature of Trinidad, we 
sought anxiously for recorded information of its 
thermometrical character, and were fortunate in 
meeting an old class-mate who pursued his 
medical studies in Philadelphia, and has for 
thirty years been a resident practitioner in Trini- 
dad. He very kindly has furnished the follow- 
ing most valuable memorandum, supplying the 
desideratum : 

A SUMMARY 

Of the Meteorological observations made at Trinidad 
of Cuba, lat. n. 21° 42' 30"; long. w. of Greenwich, 
80° 2' 30"; about three miles from the coast, at a 
height, over the level of the sea, between 180 and 360 
feet. 

Thermometrical observations, two daily, at about sun- 



THERMOMETER. 57 

rise, and at half-past two o'clock, p. m. A series of 13 
years. 

Barometrical observations, two daily, at about sunrise, 
and at ten o'clock, a. m. A series of 7 years. 

The observations of the fall of rain are of a series of 
11 years. 

The observations of windy, rainy days, and days of 
thunder, a series of 13 years. 

Thermometer, Fahrenheit. 

Mean heat of the 13 years 80.1 

Maximum 92 

Minimum, only once... 56 

Mean at sunrise , 77.1 

Mean at half-past 2 o'clock, p. m 83.2 

Mean, Maximum and Minimum, per month. 

Months. Mean. Maximum. Minimttm. 

January 75.1 87 56 

February 75.7 86 58 

March 78.1 86 62 

April 80.0 90 64 

May 82.2 91 72 

June 83.1 91 74 

July ... 83.7 92 75 

August 83.9 92 78 

September 83.2 90 74 

October 81.2 91 68 

November 78.7 88 QQ 

December 76.2 87 60 



58 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

The greatest fall of temperature that I have observed 
was on the 16th August, 1844, between 2 and 3 o'clock, 
p. m., during a hail-storm. The thermometer from 
88, Fahrenheit, fell to 76, but rose again immediately. 

Barometer. 

Mean of 7 years 29.683 

Maximum 29.993 

Minimum 29.409 

Mean at sunrise 29.662 

Mean at 10 o'clock, a. m 29.704 

Mean, Maximum and Minimum, per month. 

Months. Mean. Maximum. Minimum 

January 29.759 ... 29.953 ... 29.617 

February 29.764 ... 29.985 ... 29.512 

March 29.732 ... 29.945 ... 29.522 

April 29.704 ... 29.914 ... 29.546 

May.. 29.668 ... 29.783 ... 29.515 

June 29.683 ... 29.833 ... 29.569 

July 29.708 ... 29.869 ... 29.567 

August 29.693 ... 29.859 ... 29.409 

September 29.651 ... 29.865 ... 29.480 

October 29.630 ... 29.843 ... 29.506 

November..... 29.675 ... 29.890 ... 29.452 

December 29.749 ... 29.993 ... 29.594 

Rain. 

Mean of a year in 11 years 48.06 inches. 

Maximum of a year 70.40 " 

Minimum of a year 37.08 " 



RAIN. 59 

Mean, Maximum and Minimum, per month. 

Months. Mean. Maximum. Minimum. 

January 0.951 ... 3.696 ... 0.043 

February 1.197 ... 4.005 ... 0.002 

March, 1.738 ... 7.826 ... 0.012 

April 2.033 ... 4.059 ... 0.007 

May 4.846 ... 11.295 ... 1.942 

June 7.382 ... 13.593 ... 1.829 

July 4.969 ... 7.175 ... 2.040 

August 7.787 ... 20.067 ... 3.231 

September .... 7.261 ... 16.766 ... 3.030 

October 6.905 ... 14.915 ... 3.019 

November 2.397 ... 8.817 ... 0.190 

December 0.602 ... 2.015 ... 0.000 

The greatest fall of rain I ever saw, was on the 15th 
July, 1850. In 45 minutes it fell 3.295 inches. 
The other falls of consideration were : 

June 29th, 1849, in 45 minutes 1.953 inches. 

August 21st, 1850, in 18 hours 4.658 

June 20th, 1851, in 24 hours 5.399 

August 20th, 1851, in 24 hours 8.391 

October 5th, 1851, in 9 hours 4.590 

November 18th, 1852, in 24 hours 5.741 

August 30th, 1853, in 24 hours 5.908 

January 1st, 1854, in 6 hours 2.749 



60 



CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 



In the 13 years it rained 1,575 days, and it thun- 
dered 1,183 days — of these numbers correspond to — 

Days of Rain. 

January 56 May 159 September... 210 

February 55 June 215 October 188 

March.. 71 July... 198 November... 78 

April 72 August 220 December... 53 

Days of Thunder. 

January 7 May 107 September... 19 6 

February 6 June 184 October 110 

March 22 July 237 November... 14 

April 44 August 250 December.... 6 

The maximum number of days of rain in one month, 
23; of thunder, 25. 

During 13 years the following winds blew fixedly for 
24 or more hours : 

Winds. 



Months. 


N. 


N.E. 


s. 


S.E. 


January... 


29 ... 


... 163 ... 


... .., 


.... 1 


February.. 


.... 19 ... 


... Ill ... 


... 4 ., 


.... 


March 


12 ... 


... 31 ... 


... 15 .. 


.... 


April 


... 


... 16 ... 


... 15 .. 


.... 2 


May 


.... ... 


... 10 ... 


... 16 ... 


2 


June 


... 


... 18 ... 


... 13 .. 


..,. 2 


July 


2 ... 


... 25 ... 


... 2 .., 


... 1 


August.... 


... 


... 24 ... 


... 10 .., 


... 2 


September 


.... 3 ... 


... 19 ... 


... 27 ... 


... 2 



WINDS. 61 



s. 


S. E. 


w. 


11 .. 


.... 7 ... 


... 8 


3 .. 


.... 2 ... 


... 3 


1 .. 


.... ... 


... 1 



Months. N. N. E. 

October 20 78 

November 40 123 

December 57 169 



The 13 years contain 4,748 days. Out of this num- 
ber 45 were not observed. 

1,150 is the sum of days of fixed winds. 

3,553, the wind has made a round in every 24 hours, 
approximately in the following proportions: 

Between the north and east, 14 hours; east and 
south, 3 hours ; south and west, 5 hours ; dead calm, 2 
hours. 

During the same period of 13 years I have been able 
to observe the upper currents the following times : 

North above, south below 1 

North-east " south-west " 4 

North-east " south " 9 

North-west " north-east " 2 

South " north. « 14 

South " north-east " 103 

South " north-west " -. 5 

South " east " 10 

South " west " 5 

South-east " north " r 6 

South-east " north-east " 20 

South-west " north " 6 

South-west " north-east " 9 

South-west " north-west " 3 

South-west " south-east " 3 



62 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

West above, north below 3 

West " north-east " 18 

West " south " 3 

J. M. URQUIOLA. 

Trinidad, April 19th, 1880. 

This record is particularly valuable for inva- 
lids, showing both equability of temperature and 
uniformity of atmosphere in dryness during the 
months most adapted for their residence here. 
The salubrity of Trinidad, as a winter residence, 
is comparable with that of any climate in the 
world. 

Dr. Finlay, of Havana, gives the mean tem- 
perature of the hottest months, July and August, 
as 80° to 83°. 

As a contrast to the summary of the tempera- 
ture of Trinidad, we give the following from the 
last (seventeenth) Registration Report of Massa- 
chusetts as the temperature of Boston, as a 
Northern climate. 

Medical men and invalids can make their own 
deductions from the data here given, as to the 
importance of change of residence in many 
diseases from a Northern climate, so cold and 



TEMPERATURE. (J3 

inhospitable to feeble lungs and shattered ner- 
vous systems. 

Table exhibiting the Mean Temperature of the Air 

in Boston, in periods of ten years, during the last 

thirty -five years; by Robert Treat Paine, Esq., of 
Boston : * 





1825-34 


183544 


1845-54 


1855-59 


35 years 


January 


. 27.32 . 


. 27.39 ., 


. 28.82 .. 


, 27.28 .. 


, 27.76 


February . . . 


. 29.32 . 


. 26.73 . 


. 28.87 .. 


, 28.32 .'. 


28.31 


March 


. 37.16 . 


. 35.16 ., 


. 36.63 .. 


, 35.00 .. 


36.13 


April 


. 46.87 ., 


. 46.07 .. 


, 45.47 .. 


, 44.99 .. 


, 45.97 


May 


. 57.34 .. 


56.12 .. 


, 56.29 .. 


54.33 .. 


56.27 


June , 


. 66.31 .. 


. 65.79 .. 


66.16 .. 


65.32 .. 


, 66.04 


July 


. 71.52 .. 


, 71.60 .. 


, 71.68 .. 


71.01 .. 


71.52 


August 


69.43 .. 


69.15 .. 


69.20 .. 


67.87 .. 


, 69.06 


September . 


. 62.13 . 


. 61.86 ., 


. 62.35 .. 


62.52 .. 


, 62.38 


October 


. 52.28 ., 


. 50.32 ., 


, 52.71 .. 


52.42 .. 


51.86 


November.. 


. 41.06 . 


. 38.90 ., 


, 43.38 .. 


42.19 .. 


41.26 


December.. 


. 31.86 . 


. 29.52 ., 


i 31.78 .. 


31.51 .. 


31.12 



Mean temperature of the whole year, in thirty-five 
years, 49.06. 



04 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

"I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word 
Would harrow up thy soul ! " 

Trinidad de Cuba, February 11, 1S60. 
"We have said much of the delightful air and 
temperature of this place — the pure, soft, fresh air 
from the sea, which we have almost constantly — 
the thermometer varying from 73° to 80°. 
Dr. Urquiola, a physician of high character, 
whose registry of the thermometer is given, 
informed us that the coldest day, in thirty years' 
experience, was in 1842, when once the ther- 
mometer stood at 56°. The nights now are cool, 
and thick coats are needed in early morning for 
comfort. The invalid who comes here will be 
repaid in breath, if the fare is not so agreeable. 
There are, however, all our vegetables, and many 
others, and they are present % at all times. It is a 
great fish market; yet, strange to say, no one but 
licensed fishermen are allowed to fish — the poor, 



THE OLEO. 65 

who could live upon fish, are not allowed to 
catch them, and a single individual bought from 
Government the monopoly of the market at Ha- 
vana — he requiring all licensed fishermen to 
bring every thing they catch to him. This is 
a protective tariff, the most odious we ever 
heard of. 

The incessant tolling and ringing of bells re- 
mind us of the constant occupation of the priests. 
Night before last, we heard the sound of music 
approaching from a distance, and learning that it 
was the procession of the Host, we went to see it. 
It being for a wealthy colored person, some hun- 
dred negroes, each with a glass lantern, in double 
file and open order, marched along the street, and 
at the rear of the procession was a volante, con- 
taining the padre, followed by a band of music. 
He had been to administer the last sacred rite of 
the " Oleo" to a dying man, and was returning to 
the church. As the procession passes, every one 
in the street kneels, and every house-keeper at 
night puts a lighted candle at her door. Just as 
we are writing, six strokes of the cathedral bell, 
twice repeated, announce the departure of the 
5 



QQ CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

dead from this life — for a female five is the 
allotted number. 

We have heard many stories of robberies and 
murders on the island, which are less frequent 
than formerly, though in Havana and its neigh- 
borhood there is danger in being out late at 
night and alone. A friend has favored us with 
the translation of the confession of a robber, a 
few years since, which was given to him by the 
priest who attended him. It has never been 
published before, and is so fearful a record of 
crime that we think it worth recording: 

" Confession of a Cuban Robber. — In the year 
— , Francis Xavier Lazo, aged 23, was consigned 
to the criminal ward of the Hospital San Juan 
de Dios, in Havana, to receive surgical aid for a 
severe musket shot wound in the shoulder. A 
few nights after his arrival in the hospital, he was 
supposed to be dying, and a priest was hastily 
summoned, to administer the ' Oleo? according 
to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church ; but 
on feeling the prisoner's pulse, the priest declared 
that the man was under the influence of some 
narcotic, and proper remedies being used by a 



CONFESSION OF A ROBBER. (57 

physician, the priest's opinion was fully con- 
firmed. On removing Lazo to another bed, a 
letter, addressed to the Captain General, was 
found under his pillow, written just previous to 
his taking the dose of laudanum, with which he 
had intended to kill himself. It may be doubted 
if the annals of crime bear record of greater 
atrocities having been committed by any single 
individual than those confessed by Lazo in the 
following paper : 
" To His Excellency the Captain General. 

"Sir: Being on the point of death, I desire to 
make known to your Excellency the guilty acts 
which I have committed in this island, in order 
that the individuals now in prison, under sus- 
picion of being the authors of these crimes 
perpetrated by myself, may not suffer unjustly, 
and also that by making a full confession of my 
misdeeds, I may be somewhat relieved of the 
load of sin which oppresses my soul: 

"1st. I was imprisoned in the city of Cuba for 
a robbery committed in the town of Buaymo, 
where I stole some articles of great value, for 
which I was confined in a ceil, from whence I 
made my escape to Puerto Principe, where, in 



# b CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

company with a colored man named Joaquin, I 
broke into a jeweler's store, and carried away an 
entire case of jewelry. It was taken from me, 
on the road to las Funas, by a Commissary of 
Police, from whom I made my escape, but soon 
afterwards returned and robbed the same police 
officer. In Sancti Espiritu, I committed a similar 
robbery of jewelry, and the same night broke 
into two other stores. 

"I then went to Trinidad, and broke into the 
house of an Englishman, and took about $4,000 
worth of jewelry and property. I was arrested 
upon suspicion, but made my escape, leaving in 
the hands of the authorities a trunk of clothes 
and a pass, which I obtained from the alcalde of 
Sancti Espiritu, under the assumed name of 
Prudencio Belet. In Matanzas, I robbed several 
houses, from one of which I took an immense 
amount of jewelry, but being pursued, I threw 
the greater part away, behind the jail. I suc- 
ceeded in escaping, but soon returned to that 
city, where I perpetrated many atrocities. In 
the village of Guanagos, I broke into the house 
of a Yiscaino, from whom I took a large sum of 
money and other effects. 



LAZO'S CONFESSION. 69 

"In the village of Guanabacoa, I committed 
great excesses, and first among the number I 
killed a man on the hill called <- Joaquin? I 
also killed a Commissary of Police named Mar- 
tinez, and a Lieut, de Taraco. In the city of 
Havana, in Andrade street, I murdered a police 
officer named Maranto and his wife. I had "been 
sometime contemplating this crime, inasmuch as 
that Maranto was the most energetic police officer 
in the service of the Government, and the one 
who had been most active in his pursuit of me ; 
but as he lived in an upper story, it was difficult 
to get at him; however, I availed myself of a 
frightful thunder-storm, with wind and rain, and 
with a ladder and instruments for forcing the 
windows, at midnight, I proceeded to the resi- 
dence of Maranto and soon accomplished my 
purpose. I killed him and his wife as they lay 
in bed. The same night and in the same street, 
I killed an old man; and the next morning, I 
went to look at the body, as it lay stretched out 
at the gate of the jail for recognition. A day or 
two after, early in the morning, I killed a 
Frenchman in Campanilla street, outside the 
walls of the city. Near to the factory, (now the 



70 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

Hospital Militar,) and also in the vicinity of the 
Barracoons, I have perpetrated great atrocities of 
the above nature. 

"Near Matanzas, towards dark, at a place 
called Ojo de Aqua, I met a man, from whom I 
took a watch and a large sum of money, and 
then murdered him. On the road to La Mocha, 
I met a gentleman and lady, whom I ordered to 
stop; the gentleman made a move as if about to 
draw a pistol; but before he had time to use it, I 
shot him dead with my musket. I dragged the 
body into the bush; and after forcing the lady, I 
killed her also, to prevent discovery. I then fled 
from Matanzas, as a large reward was offered by 
the authorities, to take me dead or alive. 

"I then went to Ban Antonio, where I perpe- 
trated various excesses. Returning again to 
Havana, I broke into the house of the Captain of 
Artillery, Don Jose Solear, and carried off a 
large sum of money. I remained sometime in 
Havana, robbing, among others, the house of the 
merchant Tias. Compelled again to fly from 
Havana, I proceeded to Guanajas, where I was 
captured by the officer of the district, who 
caused me to be tightly bound with cords, and 



LAZO'S CONFESSION. 71 

with an escort of fourteen men sent me to 
Havana ; but at a stopping place on the way, I 
managed to get my hands loose, and seizing a 
machete, belonging to the chief of my guards, 
made an attempt to escape. I was hotly pursued 
by several of my captors, one of whom had 
severely wounded me by a musket shot in the 
shoulder, and finding myself about to fall from 
loss of blood, I turned round to meet my pur- 
suers, killing the first one that came up, the chief, 
with his own sword. I was, however, soon over- 
powered and conveyed to this city ; where I am 
now lying at the point of death, having swal- 
lowed a dose of laudanum. 

"My strength is rapidly failing, and I have 
given your Excellency but an incomplete state- 
ment of the dreadful crimes which now so 
heavily weigh upon my soul. As well as I can 
remember, I have murdered, during my shameful 
career of sin and wickedness, upwards of twenty- 
three innocent people, whose blood cries out to 
Heaven against me. 

" FRANCISCO XAVIER LAZO. 

"Hospital of San Juan de Dios." 



72 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

This miserable wretch recovered from the 
effects of the poison he had taken, and was 
publicly executed in front of the Punta Castle, 
acknowledging, in his last moments, that his 
death was but a poor atonement for the lives of 
the unfortunate victims who had fallen into his 
murderous hands. 



BUKIALS. 7g 



CHAPTEE TIL 

" And there she lay without e'en a shroud, — ■ 
And strangers were around the coffinless ; 
Not a kinsman was seen among the crowd, — 
Not an eye to weep, nor a lip to bless." 

Trinidad de Cuba, February 13, 1860. 
In our last letter from Havana, we mentioned 
seeing a large number of negroes, dressed in 
fancy coats, cocked bats, &c, for a funeral. We 
bave since found that they were the bired 
mourners, furnished by the undertaker, who has 
on hand constantly a large stock of such livery, 
to supply any amount of demand. In proportion 
to the wealth, dignity and standing of citizens, is 
the number of such attendants, the expenses of a 
burial being enormous. Here in Trinidad an old 
gentleman, in moderate circumstances, recently 
lost his wife — the expenses of the funeral were 
$700. We saw a burial of an old lady, who had 
once owned a sugar estate, and was connected 
with some of the best families, but was now 



74 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

poor; she was taken to the cemetery by four 
negroes, and from the coffin was thrown into the 
grave, three feet deep, and the earth piled upon 
her. Xo service was held, and no persons at- 
tended, because she was poor! Such is life! 

On yesterday, was High Mass in the Cathe- 
dral; after which was a solemn Te Deum, in 
honor of the Queen's accouchement. Two priests 
received the Governor and suite at the cloor, 
sprinkling the way with holy water. The Go- 
vernor was attended by his staff, all the officers 
of the regiment in uniform, the corporation, 
custom house officials, postmaster and other 
Government officers. Upon their entering, the 
ladies moved their mats and chairs, to make way 
for them, and they arranged themselves in line 
at the sides of the church. Each was then 
furnished with a wax candle, three or four feet 
long, which they held lighted during the whole 
service. Five priests, in rich vestments, ap- 
proached the altar and commenced the service, 
alternating their chants with the music of the 
band. The organ was not used, but a large band 
of fine performers on many instruments played a 
number of the choicest pieces from the best 



DIGNITY BALLS. 75 

operas. The music was very grand, and lasted 
about. an hour. 

In business matters, there seems to be no dif- 
ference between Sundays and other days — the 
stores are all open, and things are hawked about 
the streets as during the week. Sunday is the 
great clay for amusement — bull-fights and cock- 
fights, and balls being given on that day. Pass- 
ing by the Theatre, last evening, on returning 
from a walk, an immense crowd induced an in- 
quiry as to the cause of it, when we found that 
there was a "dignity ball" of colored folks going 
on. A man standing at the door had just com- 
municated the information that the house was 
full, and no more could be admitted. At these 
balls, the colored ladies vie with their betters, 
though not recognizing them as such, and dress 
in the extreme of fashion. The colored gents 
have equal pretensions, and their style of dress 
is a prominent feature in the picture. 

It appears that the Government, which is alive 
to taxes in every form, issued an order to the 
"cullud pussons" to have two balls and a grand 
masquerade, the profits to be applied to the fund 
for the war against the Moors. One dollar is the 



76 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

entrance fee, and as there is no supper provided — ■ 
only the cost of the Theatre and music — the 
balance, from such an immense crowd, must be 
something considerable. The acting Governor 
and suite attended, and remained until 1 a. m., 
promenading and enjoying the scene, while the 
dark ladies and gentlemen went through the 
various dances. We met, to-day, a friend who 
was present, and he reports that the affair was 
well conducted, with proper behavior on all sides. 
Quite a commotion has been excited by the 
new Governor having ordered the annual Fiesta 
of the river Ay to be suppressed this year. It is 
a great occasion, and is a sort of carnival on the 
banks of the river, a few miles off. Everybody 
goes, and the preparations and expenditures are 
on a grand scale. It lasts four days, and dancing, 
card playing and all sorts of amusements prevail; 
they then move off to another river, and the 
same gayety is repeated all through the district. 
A new Governor, who has only been two months 
here, was induced to believe,- by some old lady 
whose son had just lost heavily by gambling, 
that it would do much to put down that vice, so 
he recommended to the new Captain General the 



BULL FIGHT. 77 

suppression of the festival, and he approved it, 
and there has been great dissatisfaction ; but in 
this Government there is no redress. A few days 
since an order came transferring the Governor to 
Puerto Principe, and the Governor of that city 
is to come here; meanwhile, the Colonel of the 
regiment, who is locum tenens, gives dignity 
balls, that he may strut his brief official existence 
as conspicuously as possible. 

To keep the ball in motion, the Government 
paper at Havana gives notice of a grand "fun- 
don taurica" or "bull-fight entertainment," 
ordered for Sunday, the 19th, at which the 
Condesa San Antonio, the lady of the Captain 
General, and other senoras and senoritas, will be 
present. Their boxes will be splendidly lined 
with magnificent silks and satins, and adorned 
with artificial flowers, &c. The bulls have been 
named Tangier, Bullones, Tetuan, Serrallo, 
Renegado, Monte JVegros and Marruecos, and 
will be elegantly adorned. The death of these 
poor animals, with such names, by the sword, is 
to be a prefiguring of what the Moorish towns 
will receive from the attacks of Spanish valor. 
Before the acts of slaying the bulls, there will be 



78 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

a grand bayonet fencing match by soldiers, and 
no doubt there will be an immense concourse of 
the fashionables to enjoy these gentle sports. 

The steamer Water Witch, one of our Gov- 
ernment vessels cruising after slavers, is here. 
By invitation of her courteous Captain, Sartori, 
we went on board to visit the officers. She is 
the smallest craft in our navy, and her comple- 
ment of men, including officers, is sixty-six. She 
carries three Dahlgren brass pieces, which no 
doubt will prove good speaking-trumpets to the 
slavers, if ever they can see them — but, like the 
pulgas, or fleas, you know they are there, but it 
is hard to put your finger on them. The vessel 
is very neat and clean, and everything in fine 
order, and the officers a capital set of gentlemen. 
They await the arrival of the Wyandotte to be 
relieved, and will then 2:0 to Pensacola to refit.* 



* The activity of our cruisers in these waters is cause of great- 
uneasiness to the slave traders, who have been completely deceived 
in their calcidations. They were led to believe that the arrival 
of American cruisers to replace the "British" was the most 
favorable thing that could happen to them ; that the captain of 
an American man-of-war would on no account capture a vessel 
hoisting the American flag, and in fact that the arrival of the 
United States ships was altogether a farce! This explains 



VISIT TO WATER WITCH. 79 

The ladies of our party were delighted with 
the visit; and enjoyed a most satisfactory lunch 
of good things in American style. The neat little 
cabin was a merry place on the occasion. ¥e 
enjoyed the fine cool breeze of the harbor, the 
beautiful transparency of the waters allowing us 
to see shoals of fishes at a depth of fifteen feet — 
and the various styles of shipping, among which 
was a Spanish war steamer, with the broad pen- 
nant of a Yice Admiral, on a tour of inspection. 
At 2 p.. m., came in sight the good steamer 
Rapido, which to-morrow makes us bid adieu to 
Trinidad. She comes but once a week from 
Havana, and a good opportunity occurs, with a 
pleasant party, of crossing the island, which we 
propose to embrace. 



" why " such an unusual number of expeditions have lately been 
fitted out for the coast. The capture of three vessels filled with 
slaves, within something less than six weeks, has produced the 
greatest excitement in Havana, where some of the most influ- 
ential of the dealers have ventured to demand under what treaty 
and with what right have American cruisers been permitted to 
take upon themselves the duties of a marine police in Spanish 
waters ! The number of slaves lately captured and taken to Key 
West by the United States war steamers "Mohawk," "Crusa- 
der" and "Wyandotte," amount, to about 1,800, averaging 600 
for each vessel. 



gO CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

The salubrious air, mild and equable tempera- 
ture aud quiet of Trinidad, with refreshing music, 
have done much to restore breath and vital forces 
to our enfeebled body, and we shall ever remem- 
ber it with gratitude to the All-wise Creator, who 
has blessed us with returning health. We feel 
strong enough to bear the journey, and the 
change to the north side of the island, and to- 
morrow we go to Cienfuegos, to take the railroad 
for Sagua la Grande. Until we reach that port, 
adios. 



VALLEY OF TRINIDAD. 81 



CHAPTEK YIIL 

u 0h! vale of bliss! Oh! softly swelling hills! 
On which the power of cultivation lies, 
And joys to see the wonders of his toil." 

Trinidad de Cuba, February 16, 1860. 
The valley of the Trinidad Mountains extends 
from this city about thirty miles, with a breadth 
of four to six miles, and its rich and fertile 
bosom is thickly dotted with the numerous settle- 
ments of ingenios or sugar estates, owned by 
wealthy planters, whose possessions are estimated 
often by millions, and annual incomes by hun- 
dreds of thousands. We took the car of 6 a. m., 
and rode some 12 miles to Manaca, a noble 
estate of Senor Isnaga, where we saw the whole 
process of sugar making, from the crushing of 
the cane to the packing of the sugar in hogs- 
heads. The road passes through many other 
estates, where the negroes were cutting cane, and 
hundreds of ox-carts hauling it to the mills. The 
ride is through a most picturesque and lovely 
6 



82 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

valley, and the scenery varied and romantic. 
Tou pass through oceans of cane, with the grand 
palms scattered through the fields, looking like 
great sentinels guarding the rich possessions 
below them. 

By special invitation, through the kindness of 
a friend, we started with him to make a visit to 
the estate of Don Miguel Cantero, about twelve 
miles oif, in the valley. Three horses in our 
volante, under the guidance of an experienced 
calesero, whose short jacket and long sword gave 
him quite the appearance of preparation for busi- 
ness in cutting down any robbers who might 
attempt to stop his horses, formed our equipage. 
We were accompanied, also, by two horsemen ; 
one from Philadelphia, the other from St. John's, 
N". B., who found that it required the constant 
aid of their spurs to keep their ponies up with 
ours, although with the heavy volante. We went 
at full tilt, jerking over rough roads and hills, as 
if we were endeavoring to escape pursuit, and in 
an hour and a half were received at the quinta 
by the senor with the affability and ease which 
characterizes the Cuban gentleman. Fortu- 
nately, he spoke our language fluently, and we 



SULPHUR SPRING. go 

were able the better to enjoy his hospitality, 
which was dispensed gracefully. A prime object 
of our visit was to see and examine a mineral 
spring on. the estate, which we found on the bank 
of the charming river, mingling its sulphuretted 
stream with the limpid current of the latter — one 
identified with the sports of the people, which a 
new Governor, ignorant of their importance, has 
despotically invaded and set aside. The water of 
the spring is abundant, and strongly impregnated 
with sulphuretted hydrogen and carbonic acid, 
resembling much the water of the White Sulphur 
Spring, in Yirginia. At some future day its 
medicinal virtues will make it a popular resort, 
and the beautiful estate on which it is will be an 
attractive and desirable place for invalids. Its 
occasional use in chronic skin diseases has caused 
its virtues to be appreciated in its immediate 
neighborhood, but it deserves a wider celebrity.* 
At 10 a. m., after visiting the grounds, we en- 
joyed a most luxurious breakfast, combining 
American and Spanish cookery in its various 
dishes, whose profusion was enough for five times 

* See note at the end of this chapter. 



84 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

the number of our small party. Our agreeable 
host then suggested a visit to a large estate or 
ingenio, three leagues (or nine miles) off, and 
ordered fresh horses. Our vehicle being properly 
appointed, and our out-riders also accommo- 
dated, with the addition of our kind entertainer 
on a rapid pacer, we started for the new desti- 
nation. After coursing the hills and valleys, for 
such was the speed, we arrived in an hour and 
ten minutes, with no farther adventure than that 
one of the horsemen, in crossing a river, got into 
a hole, where his horse stuck fast, until he 
jumped off, when the animal managed to get out. 
He got off without further damage, except to his 
suit of white linen, which suffered most exten- 
sively from the amount of mud necessarily dis- 
turbed on the occasion. 

The ingenio of Guinea is the property of 
Senor Don Justo Cantero, a gentleman whose 
name is identified with progress among a slow 
and inert race of people, who are afraid of enter- 
prise and exertion, as if they were principles of 
destruction. Senor Cantero has imported from 
France, at an expense of at least $100,000, the 
machinery necessary for refining sugar, and has 



SUGAR REFINERY. 85 

introduced into this part of the island the only 
refiner j here. We went through the various 
rooms, and saw the complicated and elaborate 
means of attaining the desired end, and followed 
the process through its details to the fine sugar 
in boxes, ready for export. Upon entering one 
of the rooms, we began to fix our tongue to 
muster up the little Spanish we possessed, to con- 
verse with a dark Spanish-looking, black-bearded 
individual, who seemed to have charge. Upon 
bowing to the senor, we were quite astonished at 
his "How are ye, doctor?" Upon enquiring 
how he had attained the knowledge of our digni- 
fied profession in that out-of-the-way region, he 
said, "I saw you in company with the officers of 
the Water Witch, going to Oasilda, and heard 
them call you doctor, so I enquired about you; 
please to give my respects to JVIr. R., when you 
return home to Columbia." 

Let a Yankee alone for making discoveries 
wherever he is. Here was a ISTew Bedford 
cooper, whd with his wife were residing on an 
ingenio, twenty miles from Trinidad, yet picking 
up quickly the knowledge of visitors to the latter 
place on an occasional visit. Our party called on 



gg CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

his lad j, who was delighted to see folks that 
could speak her language, having only her 
parrot to do so in a limited way, during the 
absence of her companion in his daily work. 
She had resided here two years without leaving 
the estate, and regretted our not staying the 
night to have a long talk. 

During the last week 3,600 pots of sugar 
were turned out, and the yield of the season 
is estimated at 5,000 boxes, worth $40 each, 
or $200,000. Molasses and Muscovado sugar 
made from it, pay the expenses of the estate. 
On this estate are 340 negroes, of which number 
about 200 go into the field. The amount of land 
in sugar cultivation is about eight acres to the 
hand, and the produce is as above stated. ]STew 
negroes are selling readily at $900 to $1,000 
apiece, and the demand very great ? which keeps 
np the arrival constantly of cargoes, notwith- 
standing the cruisers. When we visit the north 
side of the island, we will describe the course of 
proceedings on a sugar plantation more in 
detail. 



MINERAL WATER. 87 

SULPHITE SPRING, 

At the Quinta of Miguel Canter o* Trinidad 
Valley, Banks of the Ay. 

Having no conveniences for the analysis of this 
water, we could only decide from our familiarity 
with the Springs of Virginia that the supply of 
sulphuretted hydrogen and carbonic acid was 
very large — of the former almost as much, and 
of the latter fully as much as in the water of 
"White Sulphur Springs, Greenbriar County, 
Virginia. A bottle of the water was submitted 
to Messrs. Booth, Garrett & Reese, Analytical 
Chemists, Philadelphia, from whom the following 
letter was received : 

Philadelphia, June 29, 1860. 

Dear Sir : "We have made a careful qualitative 
analysis of the bottle of water which you left 
with us on the 22d inst. 

The total solid matter per gallon is equal to 
59.73 grains, and consists of muriates, carbonates 
and sulphates of lime and magnesia, with a small 
quantity of silex. We also examined closely for 
iodine, but were unable to prove its presence— 



88 CUBA FOE INVALIDS. 

the water still retained a slight odor of sulphuret- 
ted hydrogen. The principal ingredient is mu- 
riate of lime, which constitutes perhaps one-third 
of the whole solid matter. Carbonate of lime 
was also present in large proportion, kept in 
solution by free carbonic acid. 
Yours respectfully, 

BOOTH, GAEEETT & EEESE. 
Dr. E. "W. Gibbes, Columbia, S. C. 

The Sulphur Spring alluded to, is situated on 
the western bank of the Ay, at Sr. M. Cantero's 
quinta, about 12 miles from Trinidad. The water 
springs out from the side of the bank, and during 
freshets is covered by the river's stream. It 
could very easily be dammed, though most likely 
other springs more favorably situated can be 
found on the estate. 

The presence of muriate of lime in much 
larger proportion than in any of the Virginia 
mineral springs, increases the value of this water 
in scrofulous and glandular affections, as well as 
in skin diseases and those of the liver, and we 
believe it will be found highly therapeutic. 



SULPHUR SPRING. 89 

The spring is in a region of secondary bine 
limestone, resembling very much that in which 
most of the Virginia mineral waters are found. 
We see no reason why these waters should 
not come into use in the winter, as well as our 
own White Sulphur water in the summer, 
season. 



90 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

"The traveler delighteth in the view 

Of change and choice of sundry kind of creatures, 
To mark the habits and to note the hue 

Of far-born people, and their sundry natures, 
Their shapes, their speech, their gait, their feattires." 

En Route to Sagtja la Grande, 
February 18th, 1860. 
The Coolies, &o. — In 1817, the Spanish Gov- 
ernment issued an order allowing the importation 
of 2,000 Chinese Coolies to supply labor in this 
island, as an experiment; subsequently they al- 
lowed 2,000 more, and then removed any restric- 
tion as to number. The demand for labor is 
great, and the increase of negroes on the plan- 
tations amounts to nothing, in consequence of 
the great disproportion of the sexes, the women, 
on many plantations, not amounting to one-fourth 
of the number of slaves. The introduction of 
Coolies has operated very injuriously in relation 
to this increase, as none but males have been 



COOLIES. 91 

brought, and, where they are employed on the 
plantations, their having money is a great source 
of corruption. The Coolies are sold by their im- 
porters at $350 to $400, and the purchaser buys 
them for eight years, paying to each in addition 
$4 per month. 

There is a mart for Coolies at the Cekro, near 
Havana, which is open to visitors, but we did not 
visit it. They are used for all purposes. They 
are a sprightly, active and seemingly industrious 
people, very much in their intelligence and 
motions like our mulattoes. All can read and 
write. They make good mechanics, and are used 
as firemen on locomotives, brakesmen on cars, 
drivers of ox carts, water carriers, servants on 
board of the steamers, in Havana as waiters, and, 
also, as general laborers. As soon as they are 
out of their time they have the privileges of the 
whites, and you meet them riding in omnibuses, 
&c. They are docile, but many of them become 
discontented ; and if so, or if whipped, they often 
commit suicide, having no regard for life. 

One morning, when leaving Trinidad in the 
cars for a visit to the port Casilda, we saw 



92 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

several men carrying a coolie across the yard at 
the depot, and upon inquiry, found that he had 
taken poison. He ran away, a few days before, 
and on that morning was found in the car, near 
one of the stations, insensible. A tin cup was by 
him, containing something which he had taken; 
and the commissary of police brought it to the 
car, when w T e examined and found it opium and 
aguadiente, enough to kill half a dozen. The 
physician of the railroad was sent for to ad- 
minister to him, but upon returning from Casilda, 
four hours after, we had the curiosity to go into 
the hospital, and found him dying. He died at 4 
o'clock, and was taken to the cemetery at 6, two 
hours after! In the hospital were some twenty 
others sick with various complaints. They are 
much enervated by the climate, and being very 
slowly acclimatized, many die. The number 
who commit suicide is very large, and within a 
week we heard of two cases in Trinidad. The 
policy of the Government in allowing their intro- 
duction is a bad one, as in addition to the 
corrupting influence on the plantations, their 
intercourse with the lower class of Creoles will 



PRIVILEGES OF SLAVES. 93 

raise a population, with all the rights of the 
whites, that in the future will give trouble.* 

The Spanish Government, while conniving at 
the slave trade, offers a premium for emanci- 
pation by its laws. Every negro owned is 
registered, and a price affixed for taxes; at this 
price, if the negro is dissatisfied, he can require 
his master to sell him, if he can find any one 
willing to buy him ; or if he can save $50 to pay 
down, he can buy his freedom by installments, 
which the owner is obliged to receive. A mother 
can, by paying $50, buy an unborn child at any 
time, and the master is obliged to submit to it. 
Such cases occur in the towns and cities, but on 
the plantations the negroes are ignorant, and, 
without communicating with those who have a 
knowledge of the laws, they know little of them. 

When a slaver is captured by a Spanish vessel, 
the negroes are called emancipados, and are sold, 
like the Coolies, for a term of years, and a great 
many become free in this way — the number of 



* Since this was written the Captain General has issued an 
order of the Government, that the importation of Coolies shall 
cease at the close of this year. 



94 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

free negroes on the island being very large, a 
lazy, worthless set. Yon meet them in crowds at 
every turn, and how they live is a mystery. The 
emancvpados are said to be not as well treated as 
slaves, as their employers have no interest in 
them beyond the term of service purchased. 
The demand for labor on the plantations is very 
great, and women being much wanted, sell for 
the same price as men, and very readily. Lat- 
terly, the importations have furnished more 
females than formerly. The native born negro, 
or Creole, is considered as far more valuable than 
the imported African. 

A recent correspondent of the N. T. Herald 
writes as follows : 

"The local councils of the various districts are 
about preparing reports in relation to the wants 
of Cuba for additional labor, in order to keep 
even with our vastly increasing product. Me- 
morials, with ample specifications, illustrating 
the condition of our general as well as agricul- 
tural interests, will be forwarded to the Govern- 
ment at Madrid, for the royal determination as to 
the continued free introduction of voluntary emi" 



COOLIES. 95 

grants from China, Indian Islands, Polynesian 
Islands (the straight haired negroes), or the coasts 
of Yucatan, under contracts for defined periods 
of service — eight years, more or less. The Coolie 
system, and this class of introduction, closes with 
the present year, according to the last royal edict 
upon the subject; and no remonstrance or excuse 
will be allowed for its continuance. However, 
as new 'bandas' are to be proposed for their 
government, more leniency in treatment, a slight 
advance in compensation, and social safety pro- 
tected against redundant increase of the class — 
beyond the demand for labor and for security of 
the white population, having two antagonistic 
servile classes in their midst — it is possible that 
an extension may be granted for several years 
longer. We already begin to see idle and worth- 
less Chinese in our streets in too large numbers 
for the safety of property. In Havana and su- 
burbs, at this time, we have between 38,000 and 
39,000 free negroes or colored; about 37,000 
slaves, and 92,000 to 93,000 white persons — all 
told, nearly 169,000. The Chinese, occupied in 
the industry of the city, or residing here from ter- 
mination or release from contract, are not as yet 



96 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

included in the census. The proportions, as they 
are, are not very pleasant to sleep npon ; and the 
only safety we have, is the strong Government 
which keeps all colors and shades in order." 

The arrival at onr hotel of several men known 
to be engaged in the trade, induces the belief 
that a cargo is at hand, and will soon be landed. 
They are constantly arriving, and the facilities on 
a wide extent of coast are such that, with proper 
precautions, they can escape the war vessels. 
Over 40,000 were landed last year. 



SAGUA RAILROAD. 97 



OHAPTEE X. 

" Fair nature ! thee, in all thy varied charms, 
Fain would I clasp forever in my arms ! 
Thine are the sweets that never, never sate ! 
Thine still remain through all the storms of fate ! 

Concha, the Poet of Sag-tta la Grande, 
February 23, 1860. 

]STo traveler has ever done, in one day, what 
our little party did yesterday — crossed the island 
of Cuba from the south to the north side. The 
railroad from Sagua to Las Graces has been 
finished for some weeks, though a broken bridge 
has prevented the trains running over until now. 
We understood at Trinidad that on to-day the 
road connection with that to Cienfuegos would 
be celebrated, and the road opened to-morrow; 
so we proposed, instead of returning to Havana 
to go to Matanzas, to cross the island by the new 
road. 

"We left Trinidad at 8 a. m., in the fine steamer 
Rapido, and had a pleasant run near the shore to 
7 



98 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

the noble bay of Jagua, already noticed. The 
entrance is deep, but very narrow, covered by a 
strong and rusty -looking fort, of unplastered 
brick. We reached Cienfuegos at 1 p. m., and 
found a grand dejeuner going on during the cele- 
bration. Crowds had come over from Sagua, 
and the entertainment was a magnificent one, 
given by a citizen of Cienfuegos. A large hall 
was filled with fashionables, and the breakfast 
room adjoining had an immense table spread with 
luxuries, and ornamented with pyramids of arti- 
ficial flowers. The band in the area was pouring 
forth its melody, while the company was enjoy- 
ing the feast. We looked in upon the affair, and 
found an old friend present, and then proceeded 
to the hotel. Here we found the information of 
"no rooms," and upon inquiry learned that the 
festive party would return to Sagua at 3 p. in., 
and were politely invited to accompany it. 
Though the chances of lodging were as bad in 
Sagua, where there is no hotel, we determined 
that we could not be worse off, so we took the 
car. 

The company was rather merry, and cham- 
pagne had put the senors into a somewhat bois- 



RIDE ON A LOCOMOTIVE. 99 

terous humor, but we got through safely. The 
road runs through a fine, hilly country, full of 
sugar estates, but after visiting the valley of 
Trinidad, the scenery was not very attractive. 
We passed the great estate of La Santa Susanna, 
which was said to have belonged to the Dowager 
Queen of Spain before it was sold to the Havana 
Company, which now owns it. They paid 
$2,500,000 for it, and make annually 6,000 
hogsheads of sugar. The machinery cost over 
$200,000. 

The train arrived at Sagua at 9 p. m., and here 
it appeared that the Bishop of Havana had 
arrived to consecrate the new Cathedral, and the 
people were to have a three clays' fiesta. E"ot a 
cot was to be procured, and no accommodation 
whatever could be found for our party of four. 
The American Yice- Consul very politely offered 
to give up his cot for one night, but that would 
not have accommodated all, so we, fortunately 
having a locomotive builder in our party, who 
knew the engineer, he persuaded him to take us 
in the tender to Concha, the port of Sagua, at the 
mouth of the river, twelve miles off, where there 
is a hotel. For the first time to three of the four 



100 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

(one a lady), we rode upon trunks and logs of 
wood in the tender, over the roughest road we 
ever experienced, where the passenger cars daily 
run off the track — the engine, however, being 
heavy, rarely gets off. After severe jolting and 
jerking, and a threat of steam giving out, we 
reached the depot, within a mile of our hotel, 
about 12 p. m. Here we left trunks until morn- 
ing, and, with carpet bags, took up our march 
over a jiaseo, or platform of boards, about four 
feet wide, upon piles, and after a reasonable 
time we got to the end of the bridge and our 
trials of the day — being the first party that ever 
made the trip from Trinidad across the island in 
one day. 

Our hotel is built on piles, some distance out 
in the water, to be near the steamer's wharf, and 
presents the strangest looking settlement we have 
ever seen. The waters around are as clear as 
crystal, and we are surrounded by thousands of 
fishes swimming in every direction. In early 
morn, or after sun-down, the sardines are seen 
skipping in all directions. The bay is full of 
brigs and schooners, awaiting the arrival of 
hogsheads of sugar from the estates, and New 



€fREEN TURTLE. 101 

York and Philadelphia captains are abundant, 
and our only visitors. They bring out staves, 
hoop-poles and barrel heads, which are put 
together on the plantations or at the warehouses; 
and the estimate is, that it requires 30,000,000 of 
staves to supply this island alone. 

Alongside of our house is a pen or corral of 
green turtle, which we suggested to our host was 
a welcome sight, having seen none on the south 
side. He said his Coolie did not understand 
cooking them. One of our party, Mr. E"., of 
Philadelphia, undertook to instruct him, and after 
careful dissection of a fine fat fellow, he gave us 
the first dinner of turtle steaks and soup since 
landing on the island. Spanish cooking abounds 
in garlic, onions and highly-flavored Spanish oil, 
and saffron is largely used to color the soup and 
other dishes. Our three days detention at Con- 
cha has given our Chinaman cook instruction in 
broiling beef- steaks, frying fish and making turtle 
soup, and we trust future American visitors will 
be benefitted by his education, as these Coolies 
are very apt learners. This one has been five 
years in the country — long enough to get over 
the disposition to suicide. He turns up his nose 



102 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

at turtle, but he no doubt would smack his lips 
at a fat kitten or a plump rat. During the last 
two weeks, two Coolies in this place have hung 
themselves — one of them, because some one 
owing him five dollars went off without paying 
him. We find, wherever we go, that they are re- 
marked for their vicious tendencies — drunken- 
ness, smoking opium, stealing, &c. ; a miserable 
population of a short-sighted Government. 

As there was no attraction in Sagua, which is 
a poor place, we had no desire to attend the con- 
secration of the Cathedral, to see the celebration 
by cock-fighting and playing monte. One of our 
party went up, and reported the state of things 
as .very demoralizing. The fiesta lasts three 
days, and during this time cock-fighting, lotteries, 
raffies, and all sorts of street exhibitions, are going 
on. Some hundred tables were in the streets, 
at which senoras and senors were sporting the 
onces at monte or loto. At night, the Italian 
Opera was crowded to excess, and Miss Eliza 
Heron and her sister, from Philadelphia — calling 
themselves the Sisters Natalie — are the popular 
celebrities entertaining the citizens of Sagua. 

The harbor of the port of Sagua (Concha) is 



SAIL TO THE KEYS. 103 

fall of American barques and brigs, awaiting 
cargoes of sugar — the crop being very backward 
this year. With one of the Captains, we took a 
sail in his cutter to some of the Cayos or keys, 
in search of corals and shells ; but found a poor 
beach and the mangrove so thick that landing 
was difficult, and we were not paid for our 
trouble by the few sponges and shells we found. 
On the way, we were amused at the huge un- 
wieldy pelicans, flapping down into the water in 
all directions, tame enough to be shot with a 
pistol. Quantities of fine fish are taken in the 
seine by the sailors, among which the large Pargo 
and Red Grouper are conspicuous. 

The arrival of the little steamer Sagua, on 
Wednesday, was the signal of our departure from 
the boka, and we bid adieu to Concha, Senor 
Lairo, our quiet, good-tempered and humorous 
host, and the sand-fiies. 

The desire to see somewhat of the interior of 
Cuba, induced our crossing the island, though 
with the prospect of difficulty and personal dis- 
comfort, instead of returning to Havana imme- 
diately. The Sagua is a small, fiat-bottomed 
iron steamer, drawing about five feet water, and 



104 CUBA F0R INVALIDS. 

adapted to the perilous navigation among the 
keys, which are numerous on the coast. The first 
man who took a steamer through those Cayos 
must have been a fellow of infinite daring, as the 
narrow channels and short turns we experienced, 
were enough to deter another experiment of 
seeing the fine scenery, and having a sight of 
flamingoes and sea birds. Often our boat stuck 
for a time, and poles and backing, with occa- 
sionally a warp on the mangrove of the opposite 
side, were necessary to our extrication. 

The water was beautifully transparent, and the 
bottom visible while among the keys. In many 
places the channel was scarcely twenty feet 
wide; however, we got through safely, with only 
an hour or two lost, instead of four or five days, 
as sometimes happens, and arrived at Cardenas 
to dinner. "We have but little to say of this city, 
which is by no means conspicuous, except for 
mosquitoes and fleas. A very comfortable hotel 
is kept here by an English lady, but the place 
is low and hot, and presents no inducements for 
invalids to remain. There are sugar estates 
around, which are desirable residences. 

We have mentioned the filthiness of the houses 



LIFE ON A STEAMER. 105 

of the Cubans — the steamer presented a shocking 
specimen of the kind. Senoras and horses, pigs 
and negroes, Spaniards and Coolies were huddled 
on board — in the ladies' cabin with them dirty 
negro women, with filthy children, were allowed 
the freedom of the berths — and in the gentle- 
men's cabin, twenty-four by twenty, were twenty- 
six berths, all occupied. The heat was excessive, 
tobacco smoke exuberant, and the jabbering of 
senors preventive of sleep. A fat priest, in a 
high humor, and a most disgusting commissary of 
night police from Matanzas, kept up such an 
incessant discussion to a yevj late hour, that no 
one could close his eyes, and when it ended, the 
latter commenced a snore on such a key that he 
must have practiced it before, to keep his depu- 
ties awake. The night was passed most disa- 
greeably — the only one so since we landed on the 
island. 

In the morning, after breakfast, the table was 
occupied as usual with monte^ and gold was 
abundant. During the excitement of the game, 
a quarrel arose, which several attempted to quiet, 
but ineffectually — the disgusting snorer (a gov- 
ernment official) was one of the parties, and 



106 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

getting very much, excited, he slapped the face of 
the other, and was in turn slapped severely by a 
friend of the latter. The row seemed likely to 
become general, when the wife of one of them 
screamed and threw herself into the crowd, and 
the interference of gentlemen stopped the affair. 
It is expected that blood will be poured out as 
well as gold, and this is often the result of these 
gambling sprees in this vicious country. 

The trip among the keys is very interesting 
once, and we appreciate it the more when safely 
over. The sea breeze is delightful, and the navi- 
gation smooth — the danger being of grounding 
in places where no assistance can be had. 

We were all pleased to reach Cardenas, where 
we are now done with small steamers. Our next 
start is for Matanzas, and then for Havana by 
railroad, where the steamer for New Orleans will 
take us from a country, delightful for its climate 
to the Northern invalid, its beauty of scenery for 
the tourist, and its richness in production for its 
owners, but which stands sadly in need of a good 
government. 



CARDENAS. 107 



CHAPTEE XI. 

u O, ye bowers — 
Ye valleys where the spring perpetual reigns, 
And flowers unnumber'd o'er the purple plains 

Exuberant showers — 
How fancy revels in your lovelier domains!" 

Ingenio — La Ariadne, near Matanzas, 
February 27, 1860. 
Cardenas was settled in 1827, and has grown 
up into a large city of ten thousand inhabitants. 
It has a fine bay, but is situated on low, flat 
ground, which makes it hot and remarkably pro- 
ductive of mnscjuitoes. So far as wide streets 
are concerned, wide pavements and fine, hand- 
some stores, it is the first city in Cuba, in our 
experience. The plaza is a fine one, the market 
the best we have seen, and the Cathedral in front 
of it quite imposing. The people have the repu- 
tation of more enterprise than in any other city 
on the island. A very good hotel is kept by 
Mrs. Woodbury, and you find English much 
spoken. The railroad to Bemba runs through a 



108 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

beautiful country, filled with sugar estates, pass- 
ing through immense fields of sugar cane, and 
hundreds of acres of plantains, which are the 
bread of the country, the main food of the 
negroes,* thongh potatoes are also much de- 
pended upon. Occasionally you see corn fields, 
but the corn generally is not fine. Bemba is a 
poor-looking place, scarcely worthy of being 
called a town, bnt its neighborhood presents 
beautiful scenery and rich ingenios. Here the 
roads branch, one going to Havana, the other to 
Matanzas — on the latter, the Coliseo Road, we 
went to Matanzas, and found comfortable quar- 
ters at the Ensor House. 

Matanzas is a fine city of 26,000 inhabitants, 
and its magnificent bay gives it many advantages 
to the numerous vessels always there. The old 
and new towns are separated by the river San 
Juan, spanned by solid and massive bridges, and 
its banks are protected by masonry, giving it the 
appearance of a wide canal. On a smaller scale, 



* In a quaint old account of the land travels of D. Ingram in 
1568, in the Gulf of Mexico, he says: 

" There is a Tree called a Planten, wth. a fruite growinge on 
yt like a puddinge, wch. is most excelent meate Rawe." 



RIDES ON THE PASEO. 109 

Matanzas somewhat resembles Naples, in its 
location on the bay. Matanzas being mainly 
settled by citizens from the United States, our 
language is more common there than in any other 
Cuban city, and the customs of the place are 
more Americanized. Many of the oldest resi- 
dents are from the States. Fine equipages in 
New York style, with servants in livery with 
top boots, and fast trotters, in single and double 
buggies, sport in the paseo every evening. Yo- 
lantes, however, of the handsomest kind, with 
their fantastic-looking caleseros, in laced jackets 
of all colors, and long boots highly ornamented 
with silver, are also popular. In the afternoon, 
when the troops are drilling, on the parade 
ground near the barracks, numbers of them, with 
three girls each, are flying around, enjoying the 
crowd and the music. 

Matanzas is quite a handsome city, though, 
from its division by the river, it presents a some- 
what disjointed appearance. The houses are 
many of three and even four stories, which are 
in contrast with those in the other cities of the 
island. We were particularly struck with the 
admirable counting houses of the merchants — so 



HO CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

commodious, airy and cool. "We have seen no 
where else such excellent rooms for business as 
the factors of Matanzas have. 

As in all the others, the theatre is a prominent 
institution, and Rumsey, with his "Minstrels de 
Campbell," and Arthur JSTapoleon, with Mad. 
Yermay, a celebrated flutist, are vying with each 
other in entertaining the crowd. We find many 
visitors, attracted by the beautiful scenery of the 
Yumuri and the fine sea air. The latter is very 
agreeable when northers are not present, but they 
are frequent and make Matanzas not desirable for 
persons with pulmonary disorders. The tempe- 
rature is often ten degrees below that of Trini- 
dad, and 54° to 56° are not uncommon. The 
climate of Trinidad, free from northers and so 
equable, is far preferable. On arriving at Ma- 
tanzas, we found a cool norther, and thick coats 
absolutely necessary — which we have not pre- 
viously required. "We dined with a most inte- 
resting family, and spent a pleasant day — upon 
leaving, we were kindly presented with a fine 
specimen of a Chameleon^ which was caught in 
the dining-room. It breeds on trees in the gar- 
dens and woods, and is quite harmless. 



FINE SUGAR ESTATE. HI 

Having letters to the hospitable proprietor of 
La Ariadne, at Liincnar, we took the car at 9 a. 
in., and arrived at his beautiful ingenio at 10-J-, in 
time for breakfast, finding another party of visi- 
tors just returning from a morning ride — the 
ladies in ecstasy with the easy pacing ponies. 
We were received with great cordiality and a 
hearty and courteous welcome, by Mr. A. C, 
the son, who manages the estate; After the full 
descriptions, by Miss Bremer, Miss Murray and 
Dana, of this admirably managed plantation, we 
scarcely know what to say of it. We have 
visited many and larger, but we have never seen 
a sugar estate better ordered, or so systematically 
administered. The arrangements are exact in all 
departments, and carried out with ease and a 
success which well repays the minute attention 
of the manager. He is highly intelligent, well 
educated in Paris, and by extensive travel, 
and fully appreciating agricultural improvement 
nothing is lost in the various processes, but 
everything turned to account — the escape steam 
is made to heat the reception pans of cane juice, 
and if a horse dies, he is buried in the manure 
pile, &c. 



112 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

The process of sugar-making seems here to be 
very simple, and the machinery not at all com- 
plicated. The hands in the field, with a long 
knife, cut the cane close to the ground, top it, 
and throw it from them, to be taken up by others, 
who strip off the blades, and throw it into the 
ox-cart close by ; when eight or ten carts are 
loaded, they go to the sugar-house, where the 
cane is emptied and piled around the press or 
crushing machine. This is fed by a wide trough, 
and as the cane passes through the press of three 
heavy cylinders, it is crushed and deprived of its 
juice, and falls into a cart below, to be hauled 
away and dried for fuel. It is then called 
bagasse, and is dried in piles, by the women, and 
covered with blades or housed — being the only 
fuel used for the furnace. It requires to be most 
carefully watched, as it is like tinder, and a fire 
is fatal to the hopes of the planter. The lower 
blades of the cane in the field being dry, ignite 
readily, and often the whole crop is swept by the 
work of an incendiary. Last year there were 
extensive fires, destroying many crops.* 



* Recently an immense fire in the valley of Trinidad has de- 
stroyed cane to the value of a million of dollars. 



SUGAR MAKING. H3 

It is said that, in some parts of the island, 
black mail is levied on the planters, and money 
freely given to bny exemption from villainous 
stipendiaries, known only by anonymous letters, 
demanding a tribute. Every precaution is neces- 
sary, in consequence of the danger of fire, and 
the police of the estates is essentially aided by 
numerous blood-hounds, which are turned loose 
at night to keep off strangers. They are very 
severe, and greatly feared. 

The cane juice passes into reception pans 
heated by steam — now called guarajpjpa — and 
then into other pans, called defecators, where 
lime is added to neutralize acidity. It then 
goes into a succession of boiling pans, and is 
skimmed — the scum passes into tanks, from 
which it is carried to the manure pile. The 
juice in the last pan, when of the proper proof, 
goes into large vats, and after standing twenty- 
four hours, cools into Muscovado sugar, and is 
put into hogsheads. 

The hogsheads are carried into the draining or 
purging house, and having holes in the lower 
end, are placed on a floor of rack work, for the 
molasses to run into long troughs in a lower 



114 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

story, terminating in tanks, from which it is put 
into hogsheads. 

There are various estates on the island, on 
which clayed and refined sugars are made, and 
in preparing the latter, the machinery is very 
complicated. On Mr. C.'s estate, you have a fair 
specimen of a model establishment — though not 
large it is most efficiently worked. The visitor 
here has beautiful walks in the avenues of the 
Royal palm, of the ornamental mango, or the 
picturesque cocoa-nut or cocoa-palm. He finds 
in the variety of tropical fruits and flowers full 
occupation for his botanical knowledge, or he can 
study the huge black ant, so destructive, in its 
colonies and various characters of industrial pur- 
suits. He can find the chameleon, the tarantula, 
the scorpion and the centipede of colossal pro- 
portions, to tax him farther — or in the woods and 
fields, birds which he has never seen before. 
The large oxen hauling immense wagons of cane 
heavily loaded, attract the attention, not only by 
the manner of being yoked by the horns, but by 
their admirable training. They are divided into 
two sections, one of which works a week, while 
the other rests, alternating with regularity. 



SLAVES. 115 

They are of fine size and fat, and are the best 
specimens we have seen of the improved breed 
of the country. This estate is the only one we 
have visited where improved agriculture from 
older countries and book knowledge are adopted, 
and in all departments we see progress indicated. 
The negroes are well looking and well cared 
for, which is not the case on some estates we 
visited. A large number of little ones is the 
evidence of good treatment, and a general 
healthiness seems characteristic of them. Our 
party was amused in seeing a crowd of children 
collected at the piazza, dropping upon their 
knees with the regularity of a drill by the 
old nurses, to receive the benediction of "old 
massa," who, in addition to the " Adios" usually 
gave each a biscuit, to their great satisfaction. 
We wish some of our Abolitionists at home 
could see these blessings in their proper light. 

Returning from Limonar to Matanzas, we had 
the opportunity, next day, of visiting the 
Cumbre, a high ridge of mountains, from which 
the view is enjoyed of the romantic Yumuri 
Valley. Some of the party went in volantes and 
others on horseback, up the worst rocky road we 



HQ CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

have ever seen — a disgrace to commissioners, if 
such there be in this country, where most things 
are totally neglected. As you ascend the Cnm- 
bre, the landscape below suddenly bursts upon 
your view, with its sugar estates dotted over its 
face, and the pea-green cane surrounding them, 
contrasting most agreeably with the deeper 
colored foliage of the tall palms and cocoa-palms, 
scattered or in groups. The gentle undulations 
of the valley — the streams meandering in the 
distance, with the elevations of the Pan of 
Matanzas, and its kindred hills, closing in the 
rich area below, present a panorama, of exquisite 
beauty. We cannot compare it with the Yalley 
of Trinidad, so much more extensive; but more 
circumscribed, it is not surpassed by any single 
view in that luxurious region. For miles the eye 
is filled with scenes of beauty, and the pictorial 
creations of the pencil of the most imaginative 
mind cannot present more novel artistic exhibi- 
tions of the gentleness and romance of nature's 
scenery. A visit to the island is not complete 
without enjoying the richness and magnificence 
of the quiet beauty of the Yalley of the Yuinuri, 
and a visit to a coffee plantation in the neighbor- 



COFFEE CULTIVATION. 117 

hood. The following description, by Ballou, 
gives a good idea of its interest : 

" A coffee plantation is one of the most beauti- 
ful gardens that can well be conceived of; in its 
variety and beauty baffling correct description, 
being one of those peculiar characteristics of the 
low latitudes which must be seen to be under- 
stood. An estate devoted to this purpose usually 
covers some three hundred acres of land, planted 
in regular squares of eight acres, and intersected 
by broad alleys of palms, mangoes, oranges, and 
other ornamental and beautiful tropical trees.* 
Mingled with these are planted lemons, pomegra- 
nates, cape jessamines, and a species of wild 
heliotrope, fragrant as the morning. Conceive 
of this beautiful arrangement, and then of the 
whole when in flower ; the coffee, with its milk- 
white blossoms, so abundant that it seems as 
though a pure white cloud of snow had fallen 
there and left the rest of the vegetation fresh and 
green. Interspersed in these fragrant alleys is 
the red of the Mexican rose, the flowering pome- 

* The coffee-tree requires to be protected, at least partially, 
from the sun ; hence the planting of banana and other trees in 
their midst. 



118 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

granate, and the large, gaudy flower of the 
penon, shrouding its parent stem in a cloak of 
scarlet, with wavings here and there of the 
graceful yellow flag, and many bewitchingly- 
frasrant wild flowers, twining their tender stems 
about the base of these. In short, a coffee plan- 
tation is a perfect floral El Dorado, with every 
luxury (except ice) the heart could wish. 

"The coffee-plant (caffea Arahicd) is less ex- 
tensively cultivated on the island than formerly, 
being found to yield only four per cent, on the 
capital invested. This plant was introduced by 
the French into Martinique in 1*127, and made 
its appearance in Cuba in 1769. It requires 
some shade, and hence the plantations are, as 
already described, diversified by alternate rows 
of bananas, and other useful and ornamental 
tropical shrubs and trees. The decadence of this 
branch of agriculture was predicted for years 
before it took place, the fall of prices being fore- 
seen; but the calculations of intelligent men 
were disregarded, simply because they interfered 
with their own estimate of profits. When the 
crash came, many coffee raisers entirely aban- 
doned the culture, while the wiser among them 



COFFEE CULTIVATION. 119 

introduced improved methods and economy into 
their business, and were well rewarded for their 
foresight and good judgment. The old method 
of culture was very careless and defective. The 
plants were grown very close together, and sub- 
jected to severe pruning, while the fruit, gathered 
by hand, yielded a mixture of ripe and unripe 
berries. In the countries where the coffee-plant 
originated, a very different method is pursued. 
The Arabs plant the trees much further apart, 
allow them to grow to a considerable height, and 
gather the crop by shaking the trees, a method 
which secures only the ripe berries. A coffee 
plantation managed in this way, and combined 
with the culture of vegetables and fruits on the 
same ground, would yield, it is said, a dividend 
of twelve per cent, on the capital employed; but 
the Cuban agriculturists have not yet learned to 
develop the resources of their favored island." 



120 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

"Three hundred banner' d knights was indeed a gallant show; 
Three hundred shaven Moors they killed, a man at every blow. 
The Christians call upon St. James, the Moors upon Mahfeund ; 
There were thirteen hundred of them slain on a little plot of 
ground." 

Havana, March 3, 1860. 

Steamers leave Matanzas every night for 
Havana, and the cars every morning, occupying 
about six hours in the transit. The road runs 
through a country similar to what we have de- 
scribed from Cardenas — sugar cane and plantains 
being the crops through which we passed. Occa- 
sionally, a small field of corn is visible. It is 
yellow, but sweet, and makes passable hominy. 

Arriving at Havana, we find the officials 
"stirred up" grandly at news from Tetuan of a 
great victory of the valiant Spaniards over that 
small town. It takes very little to get up a 
grand u funcion," and the bells are ringing, and 
cannon firing from the Moro and the men-of-war 
in the harbor, some of which seem to us sta- 
tioned especially for such demonstrations. For 



GRAND FIESTA. 121 

two nights, the palace of the Captain General 
has been brilliantly illuminated, as well as many 
houses in the neighborhood, and the Plaza 
thronged with crowds of fashionables and 
canaille, beggars in tatters, as well as crinoline, 
fine linen and broad-cloth. Four bands of music 
were out distributing melody, while the regular 
entertainment of the Plaza was dispensed as 
usual. In several of the streets, flags are ex- 
tended across the whole extent, and Moors, hung 
by the neck, dangling in the air above you. 
These valiant people seem actually impressed 
with the idea that they have whipped all 
creation, and the proudest excitement pervades 
the masses. 

For three days the fiesta is to be kept up, and 
as it is Lent, a dispensation has been granted, 
under the circumstances, by the Bishop of 
Havana, for a most elaborate and magnificent 
masked ball for to-morrow (Sunday!) evening, 
when the farce is to be closed until the next 
news. At the grand "funcion taurica" bull- 
fight, on Sunday last, an incident occurred, which 
somewhat alarmed the three or four thousand 
spectators — a severe gust of wind came up, and 



122 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

the flag-staff was broken, and the Spanish flag, 
" blood and gold," actually fell into the arena — a 
bad omen — but the bull Tetuan, decorated by 
ribbons and ornaments from the hands of the 
Condesa, was killed, and the city is now reported 
as taken! "What a coincidence! 

A friend who happened to be at Matanzas 
gives us his experience there on the occasion of 
celebrating the victory : 

"You Know Where, March 2d, 1860. 
"Dr. E. W. Gibhes. 

"Dear Sir: Since your departure we have had 
considerable excitement. The news of the fall 
of Tetuan has caused as much noise hereabouts 
as whilom that of Sebastopol. The Spaniards 
are doing their best to imitate the French in 
all things military. Read the court addresses, 
the army bulletins, the speech from the throne to 
the Cortes about the war, the subscription on 
foot for the army, and then take up similar docu- 
ments from the other side of the Pyrenees, and 
with a few changes for dates and names, you 
have almost copies of the French addresses, 
speeches, &c. Thus it is with, the great and 



GLORIOUS VICTORY. 123 

glorious nation who, for the third time, (no doubt 
of it,) are saving the cause of civilization and 
Christianity in Europe. A patriotic poet, after 
stringing together the largest amount of high- 
sounding and bombastic expressions the Spanish 
language can produce, recounting the glories of 
old, (!) (not having anything newer than Tetuan 
to speak of,) recalls the glorious achievements of 
the Cid against the Moors in days of yore, and 
winds off with a hint to the Yankees, most un- 
mistakably pointed for their especial benefit. 
He says that some foolish nations have thought 
Spain dead, but beware ! she has proved she was 
only sleeping, and has now arisen in her might 
to carry terror to the hearts of her foes! so I 
beg of you all to take your hats off and be civil, 
or else there is no knowing how soon your cities 
may not fall as fell Tetuan. 

"By supreme decree, &c, &c, three days 
were set aside to celebrate the unparalleled 
achievement, and the bright spot which appeared 
on the escutcheon of Spain, so long doomed to 
mould and decay, was to be hailed as the har- 
binger of the resuscitation of the national honor. 
And so, for three days have all the guns, blun- 



124 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

derbusses, pistols and cannon been roaring forth 
loud notes of praise to the heroic army who, in 
the face of unheard perils, trials under which 
other troops would have quailed, &c, &c, have 
so signally convinced the world (meaning them- 
selves) that Spain has awakened to a new era of 
glory and power. 

u ln Matanzas, the proceedings were exceed- 
ingly noisy, and powder enough was expended in 
this one town to have blown the kingdom of Mo- 
rocco, and Africa besides, over into the Pacific. 
The danger was imminent to those who had any 
business to attend to, as the glorious descendants 
of the Lions of Castile appeared perfectly 
reckless of the life and limbs of the passers-by, 
and most certainly appeared to me more like the 
asses of Castile clo'thed with the lion's skin. 
There were numerous balls, levees, dinners and 
other demonstrations to satisfy the eyes, the ears, 
the legs, and what appeared most difficult, the 
stomach, as those can testify who sat down to 
the entertainment at the Barracks, given by the 
officers of the garrison. 

"A Moor in ef^gy was dragged about the 
streets, accompanied by a couple of policemen, 



BURNING GUNPOWDER. 125 

and rag-tag and bob-tail bringing up the rear; at 
the street corners shots were fired at the fallen 
Moslem, with shouts for the army, the Queen, 
&c. One individual in the height of his patriot- 
ism, after several very effective discharges, 
thought to increase the noise and fun in propor- 
tion to the load of his arquebuss, and contrived 
to stop his own noise for some time, as the vene- 
rable piece of iron exploded, severely wounding 
him and scaring several others into their senses. 

"As for the Cubans, I have seen none take 
any part in the demonstration; the balls in honor 
of the occasion were very poorly attended, and 
all appeared heartily glad when quiet once more 
resumed its sway. They certainly are aware 
that, no matter how the dance goes, they will 
have to pay for the music and the broken cups 
and saucers. 

"What a bright idea it would be now, if the 
Government would just ship off to the scene of 
operations the several thousands of black troops 
now in such a beautiful state of discipline in the 
island, and try the valor of these worthy allies 
and comrades in arms of the defenders and 
heroes of Castile and Leon ! 



126 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

"I have some of the poetry written for the 
occasion, and should you desire, will forward 
translations." * 

Havana is crowded with American visitors, 
mostly from our Northern States, avoiding cold 
weather, but they are embarking too early for 
New Orleans en route for home. The hotels are 
all full, and some difficulty is experienced in 
finding accommodations. The sailing of the De 
Soto for New Orleans, and a desire to avoid the 
risk of fancied equinoctial gales, two weeks 
hence, have caused somewhat of a stampede, and 
her state-rooms are all engaged. 



PLAZA DE ARMAS. 127 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

" So music past is obsolete — 
And yet 'twas sweet! 'twas passing sweet! 
But now 'tis gone away.'" 

Havana, March, 1860. 
In front of the Captain General's palace, which 
is a handsome and commodious residence, is the 
Plaza de Armas or public square, laid off hand- 
somely and planted with beautiful trees, among 
which the royal palm is conspicuous, and rich 
flowers bloom. It is paved with flag stones and 
provided with benches, and in the evenings with 
chairs for the gay population to enjoy the music 
of the Government band. It is small but quite 
a handsome garden, and seems to be carefully at- 
tended. In the centre is a statue of "India" 
surrounded by an iron railing, and across the 
street is a small chapel erected over the spot 
where Columbus is said to have first had mass on 
his landing. During the evenings, especially on 



128 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

Sundays and feast-days, crowds congregate in the 
Plaza to promenade and hear the music. 

Not far from the Plaza is one of the most im- 
portant institutions of the city — the Dominica — 
one of the best ordered and most elegant cafes 
in the world. It is large enough to accom- 
modate in its marble hall several hundred 
persons at' one time, and is the resort of almost 
every body at some time of the day. In the 
centre is a fountain; and in all directions you 
find marble tables of various sizes and shapes to 
accommodate parties suitably. Call for " choco- 
late," or "cafe," or "dulces" or ices, or the de- 
licious orange granizada, or the lemon jpanalis, 
or cakes of endless variety, and you are served 
with the accompaniment of the puff of a rich 
Hahana or a delicate cigarillo from the next 
table. Every body smokes except yourself, per- 
haps, and the presence of ladies is "nada" — 
they smoke, too, if they please. Surrounded by 
representatives of all nations and peoples and 
tongues, you have a jargonic noise, in which the 
loud voice of Los Esjpanoles, with their rich, 
sonorous intonation, largely predominates. The 
Dominica is the meeting-place of friends at 



THE DOMINICA. 129 

any hour, and you see the crowd at that very 
time. 

Having enjoyed the luxuries of this grand 
cafe, you step across the street to see the manu- 
factory of dulces, and before you enter you are 
regaled with the rich atmosphere of guava that 
pervades the neighborhood. Here you find 
steam engines at work to supply the world with 
jellies and marmalades, and preserves of all the 
fine fruits of the island. The foreign business is 
immense, and the quantities of huge boxes con- 
stantly handed out to the wagons at the doors 
attest the fact. 

Next to the essential Dominica, the most at- 
tractive resort of the Cuban, is the " Teatro de 
Tacon" a splendid and spacious building a short 
distance beyond the walls, opposite El Camjpo 
Militar, adjoining the Paseo Isabel — leading to 
the longer called Paseo Tacon, a mile long, so 
called from its projector. The external appear- 
ance of this th'eatre is not striking, but the 
tasteful arrangements within are particularly so. 
The light iron columns and railings, and open 
formation of the boxes, give an airiness to the 
building especially adapted to a warm climate, 
9 



130 CUBA FOE INVALIDS. 

and the accommodation of three tiers of boxes 
and two galleries is extensive — the pit alone 
having separately numbered seats for one thou- 
sand persons. It is well constructed for speak- 
ing, and the exhibitions are very effective. The 
decorations are costly, and the frescoes and 
side ornaments of the proscenium beautiful. 
From "grave to gay" — or rather, from the gay 
to the grave— we pass through the outer gate, 
Puerta del Punta, to the Oampo Santo or public 
burying-ground, where rich and poor have their 
bones alike placed, though not in their last 
resting-place. The former are shoved into niches 
or oven-like recesses in the thick inner wall, and 
the latter are placed coffinless in the ground in 
shallow graves, and are sprinkled with lime to 
hasten decomposition, so that their bones may 
easily be removed to make room for others. 
Respect for the dead is not characteristic of 
Cubans, and this may be seen exemplified on any 
afternoon by any visitor to the Campo Santo of 
Havana. 

JSText to the prison-house of the grave is one of 
Tacon's public works, which characterised his 
administration — the Presidio or prison, erected 



THE PASEO. 131 

of yellow stone outside the walls, near the 
fortress of the Punta. It is built in the form of 
a parallelogram two hundred and forty feet front 
by three hundred feet deep — and on the eastern 
front on the left contains the dwelling-house of 
the Alcalde, and on the right the Cuerjpo de 
Guardia or guard room. Arrangements exist to 
separate the whites and colored prisoners, and 
those who can pay get somewhat different ac- 
commodation from others, though there ap- 
peared no provision for sleeping but on the stone 
floor. 

The Paseo de Tacon alluded to above extends 
to the Cekro, formerly a village on a height, 
about three miles from the city, but it is now a 
part of the suburbs — the barrios estra muros 
exceeding the city within the walls, and having 
wider streets. 

The Panos Publicos, in this warm climate and 
dusty city of Havana, are worthy of special 
notice. On the way to the Carn/po Santo you 
pass several in the Calzado san Lazaro. They 
are cut out of the solid limestone rock, on the 
edge of the coast, in spaces of about twenty feet 
square and three to eight feet deep, the outer 



132 CUBA F0R INVALIDS. 

wall perforated with holes to allow the water to 
flow in and out. The temperature of the water 
of the Gulf stream which supplies them is about 
72°, and the danger of sharks makes this pro- 
vision for bathing essential to safety. There are 
separate baths for females, and for persons of 
color — all which are covered by a wooden roof. 
There are, also, bath houses in Havana, where 
you have warm 'or cold baths for the moderate 
charge of 25 cents — one near Le Grand's Hotel, 
where the entrance is through a billiard room, is 
much patronized by Americans, both ladies and 
gentlemen. 

Of the institutions of learning in Havana, the 
chief is "The University," founded in 1728 and 
re-organized in 1842. It is intended chiefly for 
law and medical students; has some thirty pro- 
fessors, and the foundation of a cabinet of 
natural history — insects, minerals, fossils, shells, 
&c. It possesses a small library containing some 
valuable books, which is quite respectable for its 
size. The building is a very commodious one, in 
the form of a hollow square, with a garden con- 
taining many interesting plants. - 

Access can be had to it at any time without a 



COLLEGES. 133 

permit, but a letter to one of the professors is 
always desirable. 

There are several Institutes or Colleges for the 
branches of secondary education, as well as 
primary schools. One of the principal literary 
establishments is the Seminary of St. Charles, 
founded in 1774, w T here a limited number of 
young men are educated for the ecclesiastical 
profession. The instruction is confined to Latin, 
Natural Philosophy and Theology. 

Much improvement in public education has 
taken place since the establishment of the Eco- 
nomical Societies of Havana and Santiago de 
Cuba. The object and purposes of these so- 
cieties were "to promote agriculture and com- 
merce, the breeding of cattle, the industry of the 
country in general, and, as occasion offered, the 
education and instruction of youth." 

These institutions have, however, not been as 
successful as they should have been, in conse- 
quence of jealousy on the part of the Govern- 
ment. They have, however, founded and led to 
several important charities — the Casa de Bene- 
ficenza, or Charity Home — the Casa Cuna, or 



^34 cijBa fo & INVALIDS. 

Foundling Hospital — and the Casa de Zocos, 
Insane Asylum. 

In Havana there are five daily papers, and one 
weekly. In Matanzas there are two daily 
papers— in Trinidad one, the Correo. In San 
Espiritti is a daily paper, and in other towns^ 
commercial reports, economical sheets, are occa- 
sionally published. 

With a party of ladies and gentlemen, we 
visited the fortresses of the Metro and the Ca- 
banos, and received the politest attention from 
the colonel commandant of the latter, who 
accompanied us and explained the several de- 
partments. The Moro is a strong fort, on the top 
of a limestone rock, and commands the entrance 
to the bay. It was first built in 1633, but was 
destroyed by the British, in 1762, The present 
structure was then rebuilt. On it is a light- 
house, and within its walls are dungeons for 
prisoners condemned for grave offences. The 
Cabanos is the great fortification opposite to 
Havana, extending around the bay for nearly 
half a mile. It was forty years a-building, and 
is chiefly hewn out of the solid blue limestone, 



THE CABANOS. 135 

and is immensely strong. The barracks are on 
each side of the extensive joaseo, and the cells 
for prisoners, many of whom are sent here ; the 
commandant said there were not less than a 
thousand a£ present. There are accommodations 
for 10,000 troops, and as many more can be pro- 
vided for in tents, as the area within the walls is 
very extensive. The water cisterns under it 
extend a long distance, and are capable of sup- 
plying a long siege. The number of guns 
mounted is very large, and they are heavy — 
among them are large guns bearing the names of 
the twelve apostles. m The depots of balls covered 
up by mason work, are numerous, and the quan- 
tity must be very large; the magazines of 
powder are also extensive. The officer, in show- 
ing us around, led us through a perfect town in 
extent, and politely took us to the finest positions 
on the bastions to enjoy the scenery. The view 
of Havana is, as he termed it, "immenso grande" 
and presents a picture of rare beauty. We are 
not surprised at the pride of the Spaniards in 
their beautiful island, which, in air and scenery, 
cannot well be surpassed; and in fortresses is 
abundantly supplied. The cost of those above 



136 CUBA FOE INVALIDS. 

mentioned is said hyperbolically to have been 
$160,000,000 — nearly as much as has been pro- 
posed to be given by our Government for the 
whole island. We onght to own Cuba, which 
would richly repay its cost at double that sum. 
A liberal government is greatly wanted, and 
Spain would be relieved of a heavy burden by 
its sale, while we could treble its productions in 
a few years, and make the whole island a perfect 
garden. The pertinacity of President Buchanan, 
in keeping its purchase before Congress, is pro- 
bably based on the fact that there is a growing 
party in Spain, in favor of selling it; and ere 
long the proposition may not be offensive to the 
proud Castilians. 

" Regla," which is located on the other side of 
the harbor, opposite to Havana, formerly was 
notorious as the resort of a gang of pirates, 
whose atrocities on the coasts of this island 
became so flagrant, that the Governments of the 
United States and England determined to send a 
combined squadron to root them out, which they 
did most effectually. The last case of piracy 
occurred off Cape "San Antonio," in the year 
1839, when a Halifax brig, bound from Jamaica 



REGLA. 137 

to Nova Scotia, fell into tlieir power; all hands 
were murdered, except one man, who swam to 
the shore and gave information which led to the 
capture of the pirates, all of whom were exe- 
cuted at Havana. Regla can now boast of 
splendid stores for the deposit of sugar; fine, 
substantial wharves, and many other shipping 
facilities, which will, in the course of a few 
years, make it a very formidable rival to 
Havana. 



138 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

" When first his drooping sails Columbus furled, 
And sweetly rested in another world." 

We visited frequently the noble old cathedral 
of San Ignacio, and admired its stately arches 
and fine frescoes. Mass is performed every 
morning at eight o'clock, which is a favorable 
time for a visit. After this service, the old 
building-— 200 years old— can be inspected, and 
its fine pictures seen, of which there are several 
of great merit. Among them is a good painting 
of San Christohal, the patriot saint of Havana, 
bearing on his shoulder the infant Jesus with 
the world in his hand. Another is of Maria 
Conceptionis, the patroness saint of the cathe- 
dral, standing on the world and crushing the 
serpent's head with her heel. The finest work, 
however, is a Virgin and child offering an olive 
branch to several persons in purgatory. It is 
well painted and very expressive. The floor is 



COLUMBUS. 139 

of variegated marble, and the high altar a pil- 
lared dome of rich Egyptian porphyry. 

The old sacristan who shows yon around, 
presents you with a card — una jpapelita de 
Colon— on which you have a copy of the slab 
over the remains of the great Christobal Colon — ■ 
with a memorandum of his life, and various in- 
terments; for this, he expects a present of a 
peseta from you in return. 

In the rear of the cathedral is a college foi* 
boys, where there are about forty in training for 
the priesthood. In the quaclangular area is quite 
a pretty garden. The cathedral is a fitting mail-- 
soleum of Christobal Colon, whose ashes, in an 
urn, are enclosed in a niche within its walls* 
The spot is on the right side of the great altar, 
and is marked by a basso relievo, in white 
marble, of the great commander, with the follow- 
ing inscription : 

Restos e Ymagen del gran Colon ! 
Mil siglos durad guardados en la Urna 
Y en la remembranza de nuestra Nacion. 

Upon leaving the cathedral, one morning, we 
thought of taking home a memorial in the form 
of a bronze statuette, or an engraved portrait of 



140 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

the great admiral, but we searched the stores of 
the city ineffectually, nothing of the kind being 
known in Havana! "We recollect a few years 
since hearing from a friend who had resided at 
Genoa, that there was no authentic bust or por- 
trait of the great Columbus in his native city! 
It is a poor excuse that he left it in early youth, 
and became distinguished after the age of fifty. 

As everything relating to this remarkable man 
deserves to be well known, we have concluded to 
give the following account of the ceremonies on 
the occasion of the reception of his remains at 
Havana. Dr. "Wiirdeman says: 

"The Spanish account, published at the time 
in Havana, and which is now out of print and 
very rare, describes the ceremonies attendant on 
their reception as having been conducted with 
much pomp. On the arrival of the vessel, the 
whole population of the city came forth to re- 
ceive them; and the ecclesiastical, civil, and 
military bodies vied with each other in rendering 
honor to them. On the morning of the 19th of 
January, at nine o'clock, three lines of barges 
and boats from the vessels of war,^ dressed with 



THE BIER. 141 

mourning, were seen approaching the Mole. 
One, occupying the centre, bore a coffin, covered 
with black velvet, ornamented with fringes and 
flakes of gold, and guarded by a company of 
marines. It was brought on shore by the 
captains of the vessels, # and received by the city 
authorities. Alternately borne by four of the 
most distinguished citizens, it was conveyed to 
the Plaza des Armas, in front of the column 
erected there by the city, in commemoration of 
the first mass which, according to tradition, had 
been celebrated on that spot* It was here 
placed in an ebony sarcophagus, having the form 
of a throne, beautifully wrought with gilt carv- 
ings. This was supported by a bier twelve feet 
long and five high, covered with folds of black 
velvet, ornamented with golden flakes and 
lacings ; while from the four corners of the 
sarcophagus as many golden cords hung, termi- 
nating in tassels of the same material, which 
were held by those, who, in their turn, had the 

* The tree under which many of the good Habaneros be- 
lieved that Columbus said mass, is now removed ; and a chapel 
is erected on the spot, in commemoration of the same ; in front 
of this stands the column. 



l±o CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

honor to escort the remains. Around this, six 
long, thick wax candles continually burned; 
they were supported on cornucopias, of the same 
wood and workmanship as the sarcophagus. The 
pavements were carpeted around this sombre 
spectacle, and beside it was a table covered with 
black velvet, supporting three cushions of the 
same material fringed with gold, and thirty-six 
lighted wax tapers. 

"The coffin having been placed on this, the 
Governor, the Captain General, and the com- 
mander of the royal marines approached, and by 
order of the first it was opened. Within was 
seen a gilt leaden chest, about a foot and a half 
square, and one high, secured by an iron lock. 
This was opened by a key, and disclosed a plate 
of the same metal, and a small piece of bone, 
which, with the ashes it also contained, was evi- 
dently that of a body. These were then formally 
pronounced by the Governor, and the other 
illustrious examiners, to be the remains of the 
incomparable Ahnirante Christoval Colon. It 
was now closed and locked, and put into its 
coffin ; and the latter having been replaced in the 
ebony sarcophagus, the procession was formed 



THE PROCESSION. 143 

and proceeded towards the cathedral, from which 
the music and responses were occasionally heard 
borne on the passing breeze. 

" In front were four field-pieces, drawn by eight 
pair of black mules arrayed in mourning, and 
led, each by one footman. These were followed 
by four white horses, caparisoned with fine black 
cloth bordered with gold, and decorated with the 
escutcheon and arms of Columbus, each likewise 
led by two footmen. Behind rode the Colonel 
and Lieutenant-Colonel, sword in hand, at the 
head of the grenadiers and militia. Then came 
the cross of the cathedral, escorted by seven 
orders of monks, the clergy, and the venerable 
ecclesiastical chapter ; the bier, carried by eight 
men, and followed by the Captain General and 
other civil officers; the guard of honor, the mili- 
tary staff, and the citizens ; the whole surrounded 
by a body of dragoons. The streets through 
which they passed were decorated with suitable 
emblems, and the walls of the houses hung with 
drapery; while salvos of artillery and volleys of 
musketry were continually fired by the armed 
vessels and garrison, until the termination of the 
whole ceremony. 



144 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

"Conducted with this pomp, the coffin was 
conveyed to the cathedral, the pall-bearers hold- 
ing the golden cords of the sarcophagus, being 
frequently relieved by others; for the proud of 
the land eagerly sought, if but for a short time, 
the honor of this office. The whole church was 
carpeted; numerous large wax candles placed at 
regular distances, by their lurid light, added to 
the sombre air it presented; while the altar 
literally blazed with the flames that burned on 
and around it. The massive columns and the 
doors were covered with banners with expressive 
designs and verses inscribed on them, relating to 
the history and death of the great discoverer of 
America; and in the centre of the church, under 
the dome, a pantheon forty feet high and four- 
teen long, erected for the temporary reception of 
the remains, by the splendor of its decorations, 
added not a little to the grandeur of the whole. 
The coffin having been deposited on a stand, 
amid twenty large wax tapers, at the door of the 
cathedral, was there received by the diocesan, 
Don Felipe Joseph de Trespalacios, dressed in an 
ample black cloak, and was conveyed to the 
pantheon amid the solemn music of the church, 



THE PANTHEON. 145 

the responses of the chapter, and the masses, 
which from clay-break had been said for the 
repose of the soul of the dead. 

"We have already adverted to the beauty of 
the pantheon. It was of the Ionic order; the 
lower part resting on a socle three feet high ; was 
composed of sixteen columns in pairs, four on 
each side ; the pedestals and capitals harmoniz- 
ing with the friezed architecture and cornice. 
The columns, imitating white marble, were gilt 
and bronzed above ; and over the cornice on 
each side was a frontispiece, with passages in 
the life of Columbus figured in bass-relievo. 
Above this, on a pedestal, with a vignette of a 
crown of laurels and two olive branches, an 
obelisk was erected. At its foot, the escutcheon 
and arms of Columbus were figured, while it was 
further ornamented by three figures: — Time with 
his scythe and hour-glass, but having his hand 
tied behind him, — Death, the conqueror of all, 
himself prostrate, — and Fame, her right hand 
holding a serpent, in the shape of a circle, the 
emblem of eternity, and her left, a clarion, with 
which she proclaimed the glory of her hero, 
immortal in defiance of Time and Death. The 
10 



146 ^ T BA FOR INVALIDS. 

arches also contained figures, — a weeping Genius 
in front, and on the sides, nautical trophies. 

" On the sides of the obelisk not occupied by 
the figures, medallions, imitating grey jasper, 
were inlaid, having the following inscriptions : 

" ' Christophori de Colon cineribus ex Dominican© 
Insula, quam ditioni Casteilae detexit ac subjugavit hue 
translatis in perpetuse gratitudinis signum Havana 
eivitas hoc monumentum erexit, A. D. MDCCXCVI/ 

" ' Siste viator magni Christophori Colombi ex Insula 
Sancti Doniinici translatse hie cineres iacent. Mirabile 
Visu! ; 

" l Havana eivitas in pignus gratitudinis seternae hoc 
monumentuui extulit in translatione cinerum Christo- 
phori de Colon, ex Dominieani Insula, Anno Domini, 
1796/ 

"On each side of the socle, a stair of four 
steps, in imitation of grey jasper, led into the 
interior of the pantheon, where the sarcophagus, 
already described, was placed; while between 
the columns, folds and loops of black velvet, 
fringed with gold, hung in festoons. On the 
sides of the bier were placed two statues, resem- 
bling white marble, and larger than natural. 
One represented Spain as a beautiful matron, 
with the imperial crown, and dressed in a flow- 



THE EPITAPH. 147 

ing robe, embroidered with castles and lions; her 
right hand grasping two sceptres, and her left 
pointing to two worlds. The other, America, 
with her bow and quiver, and her plumed 
crown; evincing by her posture, the gratification 
with which she acknowledged the dominion of 
Spain. At the head of the bier, a gilt tablet 
contained the following epitaph : 

"<D. 0. M. Claris. Heros. Ligustin. Christophorus 
Columbus a se, rei nautic. scient. insign. nov. orb. 
detect, atque Castell. et Legion, regib. subject. VallisoL 
occul. xii. kal jun. A. M. DVI. Cartusianor. Hispal. 
cadav. custod. tradit. transfer, nam ipse prescrips. in 
Hisponioloe Maetrop. ecc. hinc pace sancit. Grallioe 
reipub. cess, in hanc V. mav. concept, imm. cath. ossa 
trans, maxim, om. frequent, sepult. mand. xiv. Feb. A. 
MD. C. CX. CYI. Havan. Civit. Tant. vir. meritor. in 
se non immem. pretios. exuv. in optat. diem tuitur. 
hocce monum. erex Presul. JLL. D. D. Phillippo JPH. 
Trespalacios civic- ac militar. rei gen. praef. exmo. D. 
D. Ludovico de las Casas.' 

" All the cornices of the frontispiece were illu- 
minated, as well as the angles of the obelisk, to 
its summit; while below, surrounding the whole 
pantheon, a hundred large wax candles on stands 



(48 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

of a suitable size, and above, as many more, cast 
their lights on the golden ornaments. The union 
of the whole, and the exquisite appearance of 
each particular part, presented to the eje a mass 
of sombre magnificence, that elicited the admira- 
tion of all the spectators. The service of the 
dead was now solemnly chanted, and mass cele- 
brated by the pontifical and illustrious diocesan, 
which was followed hy the funeral oration, deli- 
vered by Don Joseph Augustin. The last 
responses were then chanted, accompanied by 
solemn music ; and the coffin, borne by the Field 
Marshal, the Intendente, and other high officers, 
was conveyed to its destined resting-place in the 
walls of the church, as already described, and 
the opening to the cavity closed by the marble 
slab. 

"Thus terminated the ceremonies of the day; 
more remarkable for their object, than for the 
extraordinary concourse of people, of both sexes, 
who filled the streets, the Plaza, and the Church ; 
and the universal homage which the high and 
the low alike paid to the memory of departed 
worth. The resting-place of him whom five 



FUNEREAL BANNERS. \$ 

cities claimed as a son, is, moreover, by this 
record clearly marked; and a picture of the 
earlier days' of Havana, although only a partial 
one, presented to us. It is also remarkable that, 
amid all the designs inscribed on the banners, but 
one contained a slight allusion to the persecu- 
tions which this brave man suffered from his 
sovereigns ; as if silence could efface the stain 
they left on the escutcheon of his country. One 
of the banners bore a palm-tree loaded with 
chains, and the motto, 'Ad versus pondera 
surge' A note to this states that 6 El creep 
muchos que el Almirante murio preso y que fue 
enterrado con los grilles, nace de que jamas los 
perdio de vista, pues siempre los conserve en su 
retrete; y asi miamo, pidio for clausula en su 
testamento, que los enterrasen con ellos? No 
mention is made of any fetters having been 
found with his remains in the cathedral of St 
Domingo, and his ashes were transferred to the 
silver urn, that now holds them, on the adoption 
of the new constitution by Spain. At the same 
time a copy of it was placed in the leaden chest, 
and the old stone removed for the one that now 



150 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

closes the opening in the wall, and which bears 
the following inscription : 

"0 restos e imagen del gran Colon! 
Mil siglos durad guardados en la Urna 
Y en la remembranza de nuestra nacion."* 

The most authentic portrait of Colon in the 
United States is a copy of that in possession of 
the Duke de Yer^guas, the descendant and 
present representative of the family, which was 
brought from Spain by the Hon. Mr. Middleton, 
formerly Minister. A fine copy, by Chapman, is 
in the possession of Gouverneur Kemble, Esq., at 
Cold Spring, near West Point, IN*. Y. It repre- 
sents him as of fair complexion and light hair, 
while the ordinarily received portraits present 
him as of dark skin and swarthy. 

It is a singular coincidence that the remains of 
the two greatest men, made illustrious by the 
discovery of America, should have been removed 



* What, after all, if these are not the ashes of Columbus ! 
There was neither inscription nor sign on the leaden chest or 
plate, by which the enclosed remains could be certainly identi- 
fied — the account mentions none ; this, however, were heresy 
in Havana. 



HERNAN CORTES. 



151 



and reinterred about the same time during the 
close of the eighteenth century. The following 
from Mr. Prescott's Mexico, as to the removal of 
Hernan Cortes, is a suitable accompaniment to 
the foregoing : 

" The Interment of the Marquess of the Yal- 
ley of Oajaca, Hernan Cortes, and of his 
Descendant, Don Pedro Cortes, which took 

PLACE IN THIS ClTY OF MEXICO, Feb. 24, 1629. 

"The remains of Don Hernan Cortes, (the first 
Marquess of the Yalley of Oajaca,) which lay in 
the monastery of St. Francis for more than fifty 
years since they had been brought from Castilleja 
de la Cuesta, were carried in funeral procession. 
It also happened, that Don Pedro Cortes, Mar- 
quess of the Yalley, died at the court of Mexico, 
Jan. 30, 1629. The Lord Archbishop of Mexico, 
D. Francisco Manso de Zufiiga, and his Excel- 
lency the Yiceroy, Marquess of Serralbo, agreed 
that the two funerals should be conducted 
together, paying the greatest honor to the ashes 
of Hernando Cortes. The place of interment 
was the church of St. Francis in Mexico. The 
procession set forth from the palace of the Mar- 



152 CUBA FOE INVALIDS. 

quess of the Valley. In the advance were 
carried the banners of the various associations; 
then followed the different orders of the religious 
fraternities, all the tribunals of Mexico, and the 
members of the Audience. Next came the* 
Archbishop and the Chapter of the cathedral. 
Then was borne along the corpse of the Marquess 
Don Pedro Cortes in an open coffin, succeeded 
by the remains of Don Hernando Cortes, in a 
coffin covered with black velvet. A banner of 
pure white* with a crucifix, an image of the 
Virgin and of St. John the Evangelist, em- 
broidered in gold, was carried on one side. On 
the other were the armorial bearings of the Xing 
of Spain, also worked in gold. This standard was 
on the right hand of the body. On the left hand 
was carried another banner, of black velvet, 
with the arms of the Marquess of the Talley 
embroidered upon it in gold. The standard- 
bearers were armed. E"ext came the teachers 
of divinity, the mourners, and a horse with sable 
trappings, the whole procession being conducted 
with the greatest order. The members of the 
University followed. Behind them came the 
Viceroy with a large escort of cavaliers; then 



THE COFFIN. 153 

four armed captains with their plumes, and 
with pikes on their shoulders. These were 
succeeded by four companies of soldiers with 
their arquebuses, and some with lances. Behind 
them banners were trailed upon the ground, and 
muffled drums were struck at intervals. The 
coffin enclosing the remains of the Conqueror 
was borne by the Boyal Judges, while the 
knights of the order of Santiago supported the 
body, of the Marquess Don Pedro Cortes. The 
crowd was immense, and there were six stations 
where the coffins were exposed to view, and at 
each of these the responses were chanted by the 
members of the religious fraternities. 

"The bones of II. Cortes were secretly re- 
moved from the church of St. Francis, with the 
permission of his Excellency the Archbishop, on 
the 2d of July, 1794, at 8 o'clock in the evenings 
in the carriage of the Governor, the Marques de 
Sierra Nevada, and were placed in a vault, made 
for this purpose, in the church of Jesus of JSTaza* 
reth. The bones were deposited in a wooden 
coffin inclosed in one of lead, being the same in 
which they came from Castilleja de la Cuesta, 
near Seville. This was placed in another of 



154 CUBA FOE INVALIDS. 

crystal, with its crossbars and plates of silver; 
and the remains were shrouded in a winding- 
sheet of cambric, embroidered with gold, with a 
fringe of black lace four inches deep." 

At high mass, after the news of the victory at 
Tetuan, we were present, but were disappointed 
at the music, the organ not being worthy of so 
fine a cathedral. 

Ajyrojios des hottes, speaking of music, our last 
evening in Havana was at the great Tacon 
Theatre, where we enjoyed the fine music of Los 
Pur'danos. Gassier was prima donna; but her 
voice was not equal to the music. The theatre is 
beautiful and admirably arranged, as before 
mentioned, but its size is below that of the 
Academy, in New York, though it is said to hold 
10,000 persons. This, however, is the exuberance 
of Spanish fancy. 

Upon leaving Havana, we were desirous of 
selecting a few fine cigars to distribute among 
friends, and upon enquiry, we found the finest 
were $300, and the next quality $255 per thou- 
sand! Zounds, what a price! We contented 
ourself with those at $50, and almost wished we 



TOBACCO. 155 

could appreciate Odoherfcy in JVoctes Amlro- 
sia?m, where he says: 

"Sublime tobacco, which, from east to west, 
Cheers the tar's labors, or the Turkman's rest ; 
Which on the Moslem's ottoman divides 
His hours, and rivals opium and his brides ; 
Magnificent in Stamboul, but less grand, 
Though not less loved in Wapping or the Strand. 

" Divine in hookahs, glorious in a pipe, 
When tipped with amber, mellow, rich and ripe, 
Like other charmers wooing the caress 
More dazzlingly when daring in full dress ; 
Yet thy true lovers more admire by far 
Thy naked beauties — Give me a Cigar .!" 

He may have said Buy me one. 

As a matter of courtesy the Government 
officials allow 500 for personal use to pass free of 
duty. If you have more you are charged. 



156 VVBX FOR INVALIDS. 



CHAPTER XT. 

"How small the choice from cradle to the grave 
Between the lot of hireling help, or slave ! 
To each alike applies the stern decree 
That man shall labor whether bond or free. 

The negro freeman, thrifty while a slave, 
Loosed from restraint becomes a drone. or knave, 
Each effort to improve his nature foils, 
Begs, steals, or sleeps and starves, but never toils." 

In reply to questions as to free labor and the 
Coolie system, a friend, an intelligent Cuban, 
writes as follows. The letter is interesting, and 
worth including among our notes : 

" "We are very poorly off as regards white help 
here, from causes \ I narrate below. In days 
by-gone, the place of overseer, or mayoral, as it 
is called here, was in the hands of Creoles of the 
island, born mostly on estates under management 
of their fathers, and thus the accumulating ex- 
peri ence of each being handed down from father 
to son, rendered them fully competent to under- 



OVERSEERS. 157 

stand the proper system of managing large gangs 
of negroes, and also to carry on all the works of 
an estate. But since a few years, this class has 
been disappearing gradually from this part of the 
country, going towards the eastern end, and now 
this delicate and important situation is thrown 
into the hands of natives of Old Spain, or of 
Islenos, (Canary Islanders,) generally having 
been sent out here by ship-loads to serve out 
their time by contract — a most debased and de- 
moralized class, lower, intellectually, than the 
creole-negroes they are to govern, and to whom 
lying and deceit are as life and breath. Men 
born with one solitary idea, and as incapable of 
conceiving a new one as of squaring the circle. 
At this we cannot wonder, for what can be ex- 
pected of the dregs of a nation where the best 
are but noted for profound ignorance, bigotry 
and moral decay ? 

" One can easily imagine the consequences of 
such example in the governed class, and the state 
of affairs is most trying and wearing to any one 
who wishes to "get along," and at the same time 
is in a measure obliged to have recourse to such 
elements. Add to this, that no one, unless in 



158 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

actual want, will turn a hand to useful and con- 
tinued employment, where the cock-pit or gam- 
bling table can afford excitement and food, and 
one must feel surprise at the immense number of 
idlers, whose only occupation consists in dealing 
cards or matching cocks. 

"Another most disastrous act in its future 
bearing upon the destiny of Cuba, is the impor- 
tation (now suppressed) of Chinese laborers, a 
most worthless set, as far as labor goes, and a 
most dangerous one to our heterogeneous society, 
when their total disregard of life to themselves 
or to others, and the absence of every moral or 
religious restraint is taken into consideration, as 
proves the immense increase of crime in every 
shape, and of which the greatest amount is of 
their committing. They are always found, after 
serving their time out, in little communities on 
the outskirts of towns, forming associations of the 
most dangerous character against the safety and 
order of the community they inflict with their 
presence; and a most serviceable piece of busi- 
ness on the part of Government would be the 
transportation of such as are out of employment 
back to the Celestial Kingdom. Estimates care- 



COOLIES. 159 

fully made on neighboring estates (ten) give an 
incredible item of mortality among them, viz: 
Among 470 Coolies imported on these places, the 
loss amounted to 48 per cent., of which 19 per 
cent, were from death by suicide, 7 per cent, 
from effects of use of opium, 4 per cent, run 
away or not accounted for, and the remaining 18 
per cent, from death by disease ; and I am told 
by credible persons that the mortality is still 
greater on the large places in the interior. 

"We have, at last, the first of numerous 
reforms promised by the Home Government, but 
which I believe are like the cakes or sweets 
promised to quiet a crying child. I allude to the 
first public trial of a criminal case in Cuba. 
Formerly, prisoners were placed in jail, and wit- 
nesses also, without regard to even the most 
important business, without even being allowed 
to see a friend, or communicate with one, and 
there left to await the slow progress of Spanish 
law, often leaving the cell for the tomb, from 
diseases contracted in the unwholesome cell. 
Where judges, not accountable to any one for 
their proceedings, received large bribes to favor 
one or the other party, to the exclusion of all 



160 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

justice, the utmost corruption of law must exist; 
but where, in a measure a sort of publicity is 
given to their decision "by an open trial, they 
cannot flagrantly violate existing laws at their 
pleasure, and without incurring a degree of cen- 
sure which no one will risk doing openly. 

"These changes are most essential in Cuba, to 
preserve the peace of the island, as intelligence 
and civilization are sworn enemies to the old des- 
potic rules. Bigotry and prejudice can erect no 
barrier that can resist the advance of reform po- 
litical, and only do we find that obstinacy against 
improvement in the degenerate old Catholic 
monarchies, which time will eventually sweep 
away, to make room for more equitable and gen- 
erous systems of government. The great tidal 
wave of knowledge is resistless in its course. 

"In intelligence and education, the Creoles 
are far ahead of their forefathers of the land of 
garlic and castanets ; and as the ideas imbued in 
foreign education and travel get disseminated 
and take root amongst the lower class, a new 
order of things must inevitably take place. It is 
for the mother country to foresee and forestall all 
desired innovations, and Cuba will remain 



DEPARTURE. 1(51 

Spanish ; otherwise the Spanish crown will lose 
its brightest jewel. 

" Lopez failed, it is true, but his very failure, 
and the eclat given to his act, by the undisguised 
alarm of the Government, have raised a spirit of 
inquiry to which the answer is obvious — a spirit 
favorable to improvement and change. Still, as 
peace alone can be a boon to a country situated 
as is Cuba, no rightly judging reformer can 
desire any but a peaceful change. I will, most 
probably, shake hands with you before another 
moon passes over. Until then, adieu ! " 

On Sunday, March 4, we bid adieu to Cuba, 
under great obligations for returning health, and, 
with an hundred others, we placed ourselves 
under the stars and stripes that float from the De 
Soto. Having passed the Moro, we were soon on 
our way over the ocean to the great river, where 
were deposited the remains of the discoverer 
whose name is attached to our excellent steamer. 
A swell, soon after leaving port, caused a rolling 
of the billows, and many of our company, 
instead of a fine dinner, had to take to their 
pillows, and rest quietly, with only a dry roll. 
11 



162 CTUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

The morning, however, roused all hands to enjoy 
a delightful temperature on deck, and a smooth 
sea, and the breakfast table was well attended. 
A pleasant day was passed, in watching the sails 
of the tiny Portuguese men-of-war, as they 
drifted by us in almost a regiment, and the gam- 
bols of a school of porpoises, which were fishing 
in our vicinity. In forty-eight hours, we entered 
the muddy waters of the Mississippi, and soon 
passed its narrow bar. The river was alive with 
vessels of various classes, in tow of steamers, and 
its low, sedgy banks, destitute of vegetation and 
foliage, presented a solemn contrast to the beau- 
tiful verdure and ornamental grandeur of scenery 
of the " ever faithful isle." 

As we progressed upwards, we soon came in 
sight of numerous sugar estates, whose neatness 
of culture, regularity and order of arrangement 
of the several buildings and dwellings of the 
owners, presented pictures of practical knowl- 
edge and business habits, far exceeding anything 
of the kind in Cuba. By a brilliant full moon, 
in a cloudless sky, the gallant De Soto bore us 
proudly and swiftly to the great commercial em- 
porium of the South-west, where we arrived too 



NEW ORLEANS. 163 

late to receive the custom-house officials. Crowds 
of vessels were constantly passing, outward 
bound, laden' with the "staple of the world," of 
which, it is said, ~New Orleans alone ships 
2,000,000 bales this year. The crop now is 
estimated as exceeding 4,000,000 bales. 



[64 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

" Oft before my sight arise 

Your sky-like seas and sea-like skies." 

In connection with onr visit to Cuba, as we 
were prevented visiting Nassau, we supply our 
failure to do so with the following very interest- 
ing and graphic letter from a valued friend : 

La Grande Antilla, April 30, 1860. 
My Deak X: Rendered almost inconsolable 
by the absence of your excellent society, and 
our health having by no means improved under 
the course of fast living we had been subjected 
to in the ' La Siempre fieV city of Havana, we 
determined to take a trip to Nassau, New Pro- 
vidence, and enjoy a few weeks' quiet rustication 
among the * Concha.' Accordingly, on the — 
ultimo, we took leave of their Excellenciea the 
Governor General and hia beautiful Counteaa, 
and bidding adieu to the frowning towera of the 
'Moro,' found ourselves once more at sea, with a 



THE BAHAMAS. 165 

fresh breeze, skimming gayly along in the direc- 
tion of the Bahamas. As island after island 
presented themselves to our view, we were filled 
with admiration at their gem-like appearance, 
covered with a never-fading verdure peculiar to 
the Tropics and surrounded by the most placid of 
seas, they looked more like 'floating gardens' 
than aught else I can compare them to ; indeed, 
it required but a very little stretch of imagina- 
tion to suppose that they were expressly designed 
as a charming retreat for the goddess Yenus her- 
self. We were never tired gazing at them, and 
could not but picture in our minds what emo- 
tions of delight their discovery must have 
produced in the hearts of the illustrious Genoese 
and his intrepid crew. 

Disembarking at .'San Salvador,' we trod the 
classic beach of ' Columbus Bay.' A day or two 
later, we sought refuge from a squall at Harbor 
Island, and, after enjoying the hospitality of a 
noble old planter at Eleuthera, the prow of our 
trim little yacht was turned towards the Capital 
of New Providence. Delighted as we had been 
with our cruise among those interesting islands, 
the beauty of which I lack words to describe, we 



IQQ CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

were still more charmed with the appearance 
Nassau presented from the sea, as we approached 
the shore. It wanted a little over one hour for 
sun-set; it had been raining, but the squall had 
passed off, leaving in the western sky a few dark 
clouds, through which the sun's rajs had success- 
fully struggled, to light up the town and country 
with shades and tints, the most brilliant we had 
ever beheld. 

As we drew nearer, we perceived that 
Nassau was built upon the side of a hill, rising 
several hundred feet above the level of the sea, 
to which it fronts. The pilot, an active and 
apparently very intelligent colored man, took 
charge of us outside the bar, and shortly after- 
wards safely anchored us opposite a large, 
substantial iron building, which he informed us 
was the barracks. I must here premise that we 
strictly preserved our incognito, by representing 
ourselves to be down-east Yankees in search of 
freight. After receiving the official visits of the 
remarkably polite Harbor Master, and no less 
courteous Health Officer, who, , a la Espanol, 
placed himself, or rather his services, at our 
' disjposicionj we prepared to go on shore. 



SLAVER, 167 

We had been particularly struck during our 
cruise, with the extraordinarily translucent state 
of the water around these islands; as we moved 
up the harbor of Nassau, we distinctly saw beau- 
tiful colored fishes playing at hide and seek 
among mimic forests of coral, several fathoms 
below the surface. A rakish-looking brig, which 
we afterwards learnt was picked up on the coast 
of Cuba, whence she had been abandoned, 
having previously landed five hundred slaves, 
was laying at anchor in the stream. 

We were put on shore at the Government 
Wharf, and having stopped a moment to admire 
i en passant"* the plain but commodious public 
buildings, we proceeded to the ' Royal Victoria- 
Hotel,' where an excellent supper was soon got 
ready for us. Being somewhat fatigued, we 
retired early to our rooms, which were unusually 
large and airy, comfortably furnished, and, to 
our intense satisfaction, instead of a wretched 
Spanish 'catrej which the poor C. had found so 
hard to get accustomed to at Havana, we enjoyed 
the luxury of a clean, wholesome, four-foot 
English bedstead, with mattress, &c, all com- 
plete. 



16S CUBA F 0E INVALIDS. 

You must know that the Royal Victoria 
Hotel is nncler the immediate patronage of his 
Excellency Governor Bailey, who takes a great 
deal of interest in its welfare. The astute Gov- 
ernor, whose long experience in colonial affairs 
makes him peculiarly well fitted for the position 
he holds, on his arrival at Nassau, saw with 
dismay that, unless something was done to check 
the retrogressive condition of the town, it would 
very soon go to the clogs. Hitherto, with the 
exception of a few planters and merchants, the 
Bahamians generally had subsisted by the mis- 
fortunes of others; i. e., by wrecking. 

Now, Governor Bailey saw at a glance that 
Nassau enjoyed advantages of climate and 
geographical position which, with a little 
management, might make it as celebrated as 
Madeira for invalids, and as popular as Newport 
and Saratoga for pleasure-seekers in search of a 
splendid climate during the winter. His first 
step was to make the island comfortable. 
Accordingly, he never ceased in his exertions 
until he succeeded in having a ( first-class iron 
screw steamer, the 'Karnak,' (commanded by 
one of the finest sailors that ever trod the deck 



FINE HOTEL. 160 

of a ship,) placed on the route between New 
York and Nassau ; and as visitors began to flock 
in great numbers to the latter place, he deter- 
mined that suitable accommodation should be 
provided for them. At his Excellency's sugges- 
tion, one of the largest and best situated houses 
in Nassau was purchased, at the public expense, 
and entrusted to the management of a competent 
person from the United States. Every attention 
was paid to the comfort of the guests, most of 
whom, like General and Mrs. Pierce, came with 
the intention of staying only a short time, but 
were so well pleased, and derived so much 
benefit from the climate, they resolved to remain 
there all winter. During our stay, the fare was 
exceedingly good. We got plenty of fresh fish, 
poultry, eggs, mutton and beef, every variety of 
fruit and vegetables, and turtle soup every day! 
Governor Bailey's ideas in regard to drawing 
visitors to the island (New Providence) having 
turned out so well, and there being every pros- 
pect of a much larger number coming next 
winter, his Excellency was prompted to apply 
for a considerable sum of money to enlarge the 
building, so as to accommodate a hundred addi- 



170 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

tional guests. But, as this was to be done at the 
public expense, of course it required the sanction 
of the Colonial Parliament. 

The discussion on this momentous question 
came off soon after our arrival, and gladly 
accepting the polite invitation of a friend, we 
hastened to the 'Salle des Debats.' Our curiosity 
was amply repaid, for we never witnessed a more 
amusing scene. The oratory, with very few 
exceptions, was extremely indifferent. The 
natives were easily distinguished by a sort of 
patois, peculiar to the British West India 
Islands — not unmusical to the ear, but strangely 
absurd to one not accustomed to it. Everybody 
spoke at once, and upon subjects entirely irrele- 
vant of that in regard to which they had been 
convened together. Indeed, they appeared to 
think the occasion suitable for setting forth their 
individual grievances, rather than attending to 
the public welfare; and there was no end of 
skirmishing. One rather tall, gentlemanly-look- 
ing old man, told one honorable member that 
'he was at liberty to say what he pleased ; he 
should take no notice of his remarks, as he had 
already more than once shown the white 



A CANNY SCOTCHMAN. 171 

feather!' ISTo reply was made to this by the 
dark-complexioned personage to whom the above 
stinging observation was addressed, but it evi- 
dently quieted him for the rest of the evening. 

We were becoming very tired of the even- 
ing's proceedings, when, to our delight, an 
honorable member — evidently, from his tongue, 
a canny Scotchman — got upon his legs and 
begged 'their worships' to have the goodness to 
inform him when they intended to go into discus- 
sion about the ' Hotel Enlargement Bill,' as, for 
his part, he was sick and tired of listening to so 
much twaddle/ This broadside had the effect of 
bringing the members to a sense of their duty; 
and I am happy to say we left them voting in 
favor of the bill. 

The houses of ]S r assau, with the exception, 
unfortunately, of a few in the front streets, are 
kept scrupulously neat and clean, and seem to be 
well adapted to the exigencies of the climate. 
They have fine broad galleries, enclosed with 
movable Yenetian blinds, which serve as a sort 
of evening promenade for the occupants. Many 
of them have nicely cultivated plots of ground 
attached to them, and as trees abound in every 



1 72 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

yard, the town, from a short distance, has the 
appearance of being embowered in a huge 
garden. The streets might serve as a model for 
the New York City Council, so free are they 
from dirt and dust. 

The island is garrisoned by black troops, who 
look remarkably well in their Zouave uniform. 
These men are commanded by white officers, 
whose gentlemanly and courteous bearing makes 
their presence in society desirable. 

With regard to the climate, it is undoubtedly 
the most salubrious in the world. Yellow fever 
is unknown here; a delicious sea breeze prevails 
constantly, and the thermometer, in winter, 
averages about 75°. 

People attain a great age in these islands; 
indeed, they appear never to grow old. Upon 
renewing my acquaintance with the excellent 
and highly esteemed Chief Justice, the Hon. 
Mr. Lees, who has presided over the tribunals 
of the Bahamas for upwards of thirty years, I 
was delighted to find that he looked as hale and 
hearty as he did when I met him ,and his family, 
years ago, at the house of the Spanish Ambas- 
sador, at Washington. The same also may be 



EMINENT PHYSICIANS. 173 

said of the talented Attorney General, who, with 
his charming lady and interesting family, looked 
as fresh as they did the day I had the pleasure 
of dining with them in London, during the sharp 
winter of 1853; and as for that elegant, accom- 
plished and handsome lady, the Hon. Mrs. John 

P , why, she positively looks as young and 

sprightly as she did twenty years ago, at ■ , 



in Leicestershire; but in regard to her they do 
say that she discovered the secret of that won- 
derful elixir, 'Balsam,' presented to the Countess 
DuBarry, to retard the ravages of age. How- 
ever, dear X, should any of your friends go to 
Nassau next winter, and require medical assist- 
ance, they will find several eminent physicians 
there. The only names I remember at this 
moment are those of Drs. Chipman and Black. 

Count Eoval has gone to spend a few weeks 
in the interior of Cuba with his friend, the 
Marquis of V., and I propose departing for 
France very soon. Tu amigo, ***. 



174 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 



CHAPTER XYII. 

" A physician should consider his obligations to his profession 
and society undischarged, who has not attempted to lessen the 
number of incurable diseases. This is my apology for attempt- 
ing to make consumption the object of a medical inquiry." 

Dr. B. Rush. 

The fearful increase of pulmonary disease in 
the United States during the last ten years 
makes it extremely important that all prophy- 
lactic and therapeutic means for relief should be 
carefully considered and impressively urged. 
There was a time when it was considered neces- 
sarily fatal, but farther knowledge of the phy- 
siology of the vital functions and pathology of 
what are called specific diseases, give the 
assurance that in its incipiency consumption may 
be checked and removed, even with hereditary 
tendency. Why the latter should exist we know 
not — why special defects of constitution should 
be communicated to offspring, inviting particular 
disease or promoting its attacks, we know not — 
why one individual should be prone to have a 



TUBERCULAR DISEASE. 1J5 

particular organ affected and not another, our 
science does not enable us to understand. In 
medicine as in other branches of knowledge, we 
may well say with the poet : 

"Felix, qui potuit rerum cognescere causas." 

Facts we can appreciate, and results lead 
us to courses of practice, physical and medi- 
cative, calculated to advance our knowledge of 
therapeutic influences, and to prevent or modify 
the action of causes to us unknown. More 
careful and discriminating observation, assisted 
by the rapid advance of science, has greatly 
improved our knowledge of pathology, and 
immensely increased our preventive and curative 
treatment. 

Various have been and are the theories in 
relation to tubercular disease of the lungs, and 
still more varied are the modes of proposed 
medication. It is not my purpose to consider 
more than the fact which wide experience has 
settled, that the tubercular secretion in its 
incipiency may be checked, and its deposit in 
the lungs removed, by means calculated to 



176 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

invigorate the system and improve the vital 
forces. 

My friend and preceptor, the venerable Pro- 
fessor Samuel Jackson, from microscopic exami- 
nation of an incipient tubercle, 'has declared that 
it is an abortive or imperfectly developed cell 
which has lost its vitality — whether this be so, or 
the tubercular deposit an exudation from impure 
or vitiated blood, the treatment required is 
the same. You must increase vital power — 
strengthen nervous force and improve nutrition, 
so that healthy blood can be formed to be sent 
into the various tissues to repair the waste which 
is constantly going on in the body. 

The integrity of the vital functions depends on 
the proper discharge of the duties of nutrition, 
and the health and habitual regularity of action 
of the power of assimilation. There is a con- 
stant waste going on in the various organs and 
tissues by the absorption, excretion and removal 
of organic cells that have done their duty, 
become effete, and whose place is supplied by 
new cell substance sent to repair the loss. In 
the process of digestion and assimilation, if 



THE LUNGS. lYT 

imperfect forms are thrown into the blood, they 
are not properly vitalized, and of course they are 
not prepared for the part assigned them in the 
reproduction of tissue and structure. Whether 
these cells, which have done their duty and died, 
are deposited and remain in the lungs from 
inability to be absorbed for removal, or whether 
the original new cell formation is defective, is 
not material. There evidently is deficient vital 
power in the system connected with their 
presence, which must be renovated. 

The lungs play an important part in the depu- 
ration of the blood of superfluous and excre- 
ment! tious carbon, and in conveying oxygen 
to that fluid, while in the chemistry of phy- 
siology there are other and very important 
influences effected. This action is going on 
incessantly from birth, and never ceases until 
death. It therefore is greatly important that 
the organs of imbibition should be sound. 
Changes in temperature as well as in the density 
of the air breathed affect the lungs. A rarified 
atmosphere expands them unpleasantly and dan- 
gerously, and a condensed air oppresses them. 

Lavoisier and Seguin say that an adult man 
12 



178 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

takes into his body, daily, 32J oz. of oxygen. 
According to this calculation, Liebig thinks four 
days and five hours will be required to convert 
the whole of the carbon of the blood into car- 
bonic acid for exhalation. The chemists tell us 
that this amount of oxygen is all thrown out 
again in carbonic acid and water. If this be so, 
and 32-J oz. of oxygen exhaust the blood of 
carbon in four days and five hours, the amount 
of nourishment to renew the carbon and keep up 
the supply must be enough to reimburse 24 lbs. 
of blood in that time. Liebig estimates the 
necessity of an adult in ordinary exercise at 
13.9 oz. of carbon daily. So it appears that a 
change in the rarity or density of the air will 
affect the general average, and the healthful or 
disordered state of the lungs will influence the 
result. These are matters suggestive of thought 
as to pulmonary disease. At all seasons and in 
all localities, in health, we take into the lungs 
the same volume of air — its density, however, 
varies. In warm climates we part with carbon 
more slowly than in cold, hence the waste of the 
body is slower in the former. 

It is, however, not my purpose to present a 



VITAL POWER. 179 

disquisition on physiology or chemistry, but 
simply to state a few propositions now commonly 
received, that may enable a general idea to be 
formed by every mind of the chief elements of 
treatment required to modify or remove causes 
of pulmonary disease. 

Microscopic anatomy is contributing largely 
to the advancement of physiology and pathology, 
and chemistry also derives most essential aid 
from its investigations. A great stride is making 
in developing the uses and functions and modes 
of action of vital organs, and the progress of 
curative influences must follow improvement in 
such , knowledge. But my purpose was to state, 
that while a proper relation must exist between 
the nervous and vascular systems to keep the 
organism in regular healthful action, the basis of 
all vital power in the system is in the nutritive 
organs — of course including the assistance the 
blood has in perfecting its constituent globules 
from the action of the lungs. Whether or not 
nervous power be a secretion from the blood, 
or a mode of electric action, resulting from the 
union of two kinds of matter with moisture, is 
of no consequence in my present effort. Upon 



180 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

the simple proposition here set forth, I am de- 
sirous of establishing a reasonable argument for 
practical purposes. 

In the role of the human economy, the nervous 
power is essential to proper digestion, as the 
experiments of Broughton and others show, 
while its reproduction is equally dependent on 
good digestion. "While chemical forces are 
incessantly acting within the body as without, 
that action is modified by what we all under- 
stand as a vis vitce. Of the nature of this, we 
are ignorant, of its effects, we are cognizant. 

" Causa latet, vis est notissima." 

As we see an intimate connection between 
nervous force and digestion, each so intimately 
affected by the other as for us not to be able to 
decide certainly which is the jpvimum mobile, 
so we have digestion essentially connected with 
the integrity of the functions of the lungs, as 
are the latter influenced by the proper discharge 
of duty of the assimilative organs. The phe- 
nomena of life are absorption of nutrition and 
absorption of air — the oxygen of the air — 
and upon these depend the support of the 



MORBID ELEMENTS. Igl 

animal organization. The influence of food and 
the influence of the atmosphere keep up health, 
and the relation between the two processes is 
natural and essential to healthful existence. On 
the other hand, all diseases may be said to 
depend on some internal and irritating impurity, 
whether it proceed primarily from the external 
w T orld, as in infection, malaria, eating improper 
food, &c, or whether it be from a hidden vice 
of assimilation or excretion within the body and 
beyond the reach of our diagnosis. 

In the treatment of disease, the all-important 
points are to get rid of and prevent the re-accu^ 
mulation of the morbid elements, (no matter how 
little we know of their minute nature, we do 
know their effects, and we often succeed in 
finding and opening channels for their happy 
elimination,) at the same time that the vital 
powers generally are supported by the remedies 
adapted to counteract the sure tendency to 
prostration. 

I will not go into the investigation of the 
theories of consumption as to whether the de- 
fective nutrition causes it, inducing bad blood, 
or whether the want of proper pulmonary action 



182 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

in not separating from the blood vitiated matter 
keeps in the system the injurious, if not the 
poisonous, influence of dead excreted material — 
the latter passing into the tissues which need 
vital reinforcement. It is sufficient for my 
purpose in thus glancing at the relations of the 
vital organs, barely to allude to existing condi- 
tions in order to bring to the mind the necessity 
for watching their action in relation to health. 

The direct sedative influence of cold dimi- 
nishes the action of the lungs, and, exerted over 
their large surface, enfeebles their vital power — 
this impedes their proper duty of oxygenation of 
the blood, which then, in circulating through the 
digestive organs, does not present the proper 
fluid for gastric secretion. So when the diges- 
tion is defective, the action of the lungs is 
influenced and obstructed. 

Pulmonary disease, — I am not speaking of 
pulmonary disorder, of catarrh or bronchial 
irritation, which is readily curable by care — 
pulmonary disease, with tubercular development 
or consumption, is not always recognizable in its 
incipiency, but when you find wasting of the 
body, with paleness indicative of deficiency of 



CONSUMPTION. 183 

red globules in the blood, with cough, quick 
breathing and quick pulse, you cannot go far 
wrong in taking up the treatment of the case as 
for incipient consumption. I make no reference 
to the stethoscopic sounds, recognizable by the 
experienced ear of the physician, as the object 
of this little volume is to draw the attention of 
persons, not medical, to the necessity of careful 
watchfulness of themselves. A great difficulty 
exists in this disease in discovering it early, as a 
special characteristic symptom is a delusive idea 
that there is nothing or very little the matter. 
Many a case of consumption progresses even to 
the end, by a steady and regular progress, where 
the patient cannot perceive that he is in the 
certain path to the grave. He thinks he will 
soon be well, and lacks only strength which is so 
gradually parted with that he cannot perceive it. 
Experience has shown that it is almost only in 
its incipiency that consumption can be cured — it 
is therefore important to recognize its presence 
early and undertake its cure without delay. In 
phthisis there is diminished vitality, and in- 
creased irritability and tendency to inflammation 



1S-1 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

in the intimate pulmonary structure— whether 
the latter is from the presence of dead tubercular 
matter or not, is not important— it is a fact, and 
we are called upon to soothe irritation while we 
brace up the general strength and promote ab- 
sorption. This can only be done by attention to 
place the patient in an air less stimulating to the 
lungs by the amount of oxygen— less trying to 
the lungs and skin by a diminished and not 
variable temperature, and where, from dimin- 
ished waste, less food is required for the support 
of the system, and the important tonic effects 
of exercise may be obtained without risk and 
without fatigue. 

Experience shows that many, who in early life 
have exhibited symptoms of the presence of 
tubercles, have had their health improved and 
confirmed by a change from sedentary employ- 
ment to active life in the open air — and dying of 
other diseases, post mortem examinations have 
exposed the marks in the lungs of the former 
existence of tubercles. It is not uncommon in 
families with hereditary predisposition to such 
disease, to observe cases of robust and perfect 



TEMPERATURE. 185 

health, even to advanced years, in those whose 
occupation is in out-door business, with regular 
exercise in all weathers, while others confined to 
employments preventing the full enjoyment of 
air and exercise, waste away and die at early 
ages. Exposure to fresh air is essential to re- 
covery in disease of the lungs, so that every in- 
spiration shall present to the diseased organ the 
vivifying influence of the pure element. What 
Miss Florence Nightingale enjoins as the very 
first canon of nursing, is the rule for enfeebled 
and diseased lungs: To keep the air the patient 
breathes as pure as the external air, without 
chilling him. In acute cases requiring confine- 
ment this may be done for a short time by the 
strictest care and watchfulness, but as a rule in- 
door artificial temperature does not realize what 
the pure natural air of the external world has 
the duty to effect. It is impossible to regulate 
the temperature of a room and preserve the 
]3i*oper density of the air free from adventitious 
impurities from bodies around. A person with 
diseased lungs should be only where the tem- 
perature of the surrounding atmosphere will 
allow him to take exercise in it, and enjoy its 



ISO CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

constant freshness. This is an important axiom 
as a prophylactic in threatened cases, or as cura- 
tive when disease is present. 

It is a great mistake to shut up in the house 
weak and delicate subjects from the fear of 
taking cold — let them avoid sudden and serious 
changes of temperature, but with proper clothing 
remain in the fresh air as much as possible, and 
take exercise regularly, and, if possible, inci- 
dentally in business, and not as exercise. 
Pleasurable occupation in moderation, with inci- 
dental exercise in the fresh air, does more good 
in affections of the lungs, and in chronic disease 
generally, than the materia medica. I would not 
undervalue the importance of certain drugs in 
the assistance they afford, which is often essen- 
tial, but, as a general observation, I would 
remark, that in this disease quantities of medi- 
cines and mixtures of all kinds are taken into the 
system to a most injurious extent. Judging from 
the notices of nostrums filling the public prints, 
one would suppose that there are hundreds of 
remedies for each disease. It is worth while re- 
membering what the celebrated Dr. Eadcliffe 
said : that when he commenced practice he had 



WASTE OF VITAL POWER. lyj 

twenty remedies for every disease, but lie had 
not long practiced, before he found there were 
twenty diseases for which he had no remedy. 

I have strong faith in medicine, but I have, 
in this disease especially, stronger faith in the 
vis medicatrix naturae, which often has to strug- 
gle against the remedies administered, as well 
as against the disease. Medical science is ad- 
vancing in power, but the facilities of procuring 
diplomas are so great that a crowd of unquali- 
fied men is annually admitted to the medical 
ranks, who impede and prejudice the true pro- 
gress of correct principles. In no cases is this 
more apparent than in disease of the lungs, 
where the vital principle is constantly broken 
down by injudicious depletion, by inhalations, 
&c. ; symptoms, and not the disease, being pre- 
scribed for. We have demulcents to soothe, 
and opiates to remove troublesome symptoms, 
but the cure is in the proper restoration of 
vital power to the nervous system, strength to 
the lungs and substance to the organic tissues ; 
and this is to be done by improving the nu- 
trition, increasing the assimilative power, making 
good rich blood and keeping it vitalized, which 



188 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

can only be done by proper food, plenty of air, 
and moderate, and in some cases, hard exercise. 
The action of air, on the blood circulating in 
the lungs, as already stated, furnishes oxygen to 
combine with carbon, the chief depuration re- 
quired, which causes waste, but during the 
process of actual combustion which here goes 
on, the heat of the body is generated. That heat 
is generated in the passage of fluid into solid 
matter is no doubt true, but the chief source of 
the heat of the body is in the lungs, where 
oxygen is combined with carbon. In warm- 
blooded animals the process is quick, in 
cold-blooded animals it is slower, bat a fat, 
hibernating animal becomes poor by spring from 
this very combustion. A fat hog, shut up with- 
out food, will exist for several weeks, from its 
living on its fat, which furnishes the lungs with 
the carbon that the usual amount of oxygen 
respired requires, the waste going on without 
any increment of nutrition. This is the case 
with consumptives — the action of the lungs 
exhausts the carbon of the blood, while the 
nutritive function does not supply an amount 



INFLAMMATION. 189 

of nutrition necessary to overcome the waste 
through that source. In this estimate no notice 
is taken of the amount of loss to the system of 
vital power by depletion, in loss of blood, poor 
diet, and relaxing remedies. 

It would require a volume to treat this subject 
fully. I can only give the general idea, which I 
desire to impress on persons in weak health — 
spare and nourish the vital fluid — there is no 
such thing as general inflammation — you can 
have local inflammation, with general irrita- 
bility, but you cannot have general inflam- 
mation. Depletion of the general system to 
relieve such a supposed state, increases general 
irritability and actual debility, and local inflam- 
mation, treated by general depletion, costs too 
much in the expenditure of vital power, so much 
needed for the' support of the system. General 
vital power is needed for overcoming local 
disease, whether inflammatory or only passively 
congestive, and nothing shows this so forcibly as 
where local affections arise in typhoid fever. 
Here you have local congestions and inflam- 
mations in a sinking state of the system, where 



190 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

general vital power is necessary to overcome such 
conditions, which are aggravated by any deple- 
tion. 

The important idea I would impress is, that 
good digestion and fresh air affording the pabu- 
lum of vital refreshment, are the essential means 
to be looked to for improvement of the general 
health in consumption, as the only hope of cor- 
recting and removing local disease. 



EXERCISE. 191 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

"An observation of the circumstances which precede the 
disease, or its so called causes, clearly indicates imperfect di- 
gestion and assimilation as its true origin." — Dr. Bennett. 

The object of the previous chapter has been to 
endeavor to impress upon the reader, that an 
imperfect digestion, with want of the proper vivi- 
fying influence of fresh air upon the blood, is 
part and parcel of the condition of the system 
leading to and developing tubercular disease of 
the lungs. To render digestion properly efficient, 
exercise in the open air is essential, and the 
locality most serviceable to the patient is in 
such an atmosphere as is not variable, so that it 
may be taken regularly. My object is more to 
direct attention to the general principle than to 
give any detail of symptoms or pathology, as to 
whether the cause of consumption is in abortive 
cells, or a molecular exudation from the blood, 
constituting tubercular matter. 

While a student of medicine, in Philadelphia, 



192 CUBA F0R INVALIDS. 

I was particularly struck with a paper of the 
then eminent Dr. Jos. Parish, on phthisis, which 
suggested the necessity of constant exercise in 
the open air, to improve the general health as 
the essential means of cure.* Having in my 
own family lost several brothers with the disease, 
and suspecting in my own case there might be a 
development of it, I was specially watchful of 
the lessons of experience in relation to it among 
the patriarchs of the profession. For several 
years I was confined to the Chemical Laboratory 
of the eminent Dr. Thomas Cooper, in the South 
Carolina College, and was weakened in health 
(with constant pain in the chest, needing 
cupping and blistering,) by close attention to my 
duties, and had usually to travel during the 
summer to renovate. Finding upon every visit 
to a mountain region, breathing its fresh air 
and exercising in it, that I was always im- 
proved, I determined to change my profession, 
and, in practice of medicine, seek by constant 
daily exercise, on horseback, the bracing in- 



* See N. A. Med. and Surg. Journal, Vol. VIII. , 1829, for this 
most valuable paper. 



ARRESTMENT OF TUBERCLES. 193 

iinence of the fresh air on a constitution with 
a threat of breaking down. The result was a 
perfect restoration to health, and a continuance 
of it, with little to complain of, until last fall, a 
period of thirty years. The attack of last winter 
is the only serious one during the whole of that 
period. 

In my practice I have always followed the 
suggestions of Dr. Parish, and my experience 
has accorded with his; believing that if a 
remedy were found for consumption, it would be 
one to give strength and vital force to the 
system. 

Dr. Bennett of Edinburg, in 1845, made a 
series of observations on post mortem cases 
which led him to the conclusion, that the spon- 
taneous arrestment of tubercle in its early stage 
occurred in the proportion of from one-fourth to 
one-third of all the individuals who die after 
the age of forty. He states the observations of 
Rogee and Boudet, made at the hospitals of the 
Salpetriere and Bicetre in Paris, as indicating 
the proportion amongst individuals above the 
age of seventy, as one-half and four-fifths. 
13 



lyj. CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

These facts, with experience of medical treat- 
ment, have induced Dr. Bennett to state, that 

"Phthisis, in its incipient stage, may he con- 
sidered a very curable disease; indeed so much 
so, that cure is, as we have seen, spontaneously 
accomplished by nature, in a vast number of 
cases. 

"So long as misery and poverty exist on the 
one hand, and dissipation and enervating luxu- 
ries on the other, so long will the causes be in 
operation which induce this terrible disease. 
But the means of checking and controlling it on 
a large scale must be sought, not in drugs, but 
in hygienic conditions, and the diffusion among 
medical men of that knowledge and skill requi- 
site for detecting the existence of the disease in 
its early stages." 

With the general proposition alluded to, the 
question then comes up as to the proper mode of 
renovating the nutritive and assimilative func- 
tions, which is to be done by proper food, assisted 
by fresh air. We can only give, in a general 
way, the convictions based upon facts, that 



PROPER NOURISHMENT. 1 95 

animal food chiefly is what is needed by the 
defective digestion in this disease — oily and al- 
buminous matters, and particularly cod-liver oil, 
which is easily digested, are most important ; 
but milk, fat bacon, mutton, beef and poultry 
are very good also. Ripe fruits, sugar and pre- 
serves, if digested without eructation, are valua- 
ble as furnishing carbon. Of vegetables, the 
patient must select what he knows agrees best 
with him ; for truly, 

" Try all the bounties of this fertile globe, 
There is not such salutary food 
As suits with every stomach." 

Some one has suggested Pate de fois gras as a 
substitute for cod-liver oil to those who cannot 
stomach the latter — if they find it easily di- 
gestible it is well suited to their case. The 
general rule is to take the most nourishing diet 
that the stomach will bear. 

As to drinks there is but little to be said. It 
is fashionable now-a-days to drink whiskey, well 
or sick — and corn-whiskey is the popular liquid. 
Taken in moderation it assists digestion and 
furnishes carbon to the lungs, while it gives an 
agreeable and often necessary stimulus to the 



196 CUBA FOE INVALIDS. 

circulation. Champagne, if pure, is the least 
injurious of the white wines, though Sauterne, or 
the finer Hocks, are admissible. Sherry and 
Port are much prescribed, and are valuable 
where a stronger wine is desired, but the light 
wines are usually preferable. Each case, how- 
ever, must be judiciously advised on this point. 

In taking whiskey the quantity must be indi- 
cated by the feelings, but there is a little risk in 
an occasional case, as to what moderation means. 
Dr. Cooper used to tell a story of his lecturing 
Dr. Priestley's gardener for drinking, when he 
said he only took liquor in moderation, and 
moderation couldn't hurt. "But what do you 
call moderation?" said the doctor. "Please your 
honor, sir, only a quart a clay ! " 

Volumes have been written concerning 
climate, and numerous references might be 
given, but as to exercise all agree. Sir John 
Pringle always found that in fixed camps there 
was more sickness from inactivity than from 
fatigue, and this is the generally received obser- 
vation. But in no disease more than in con- 
sumption is this needed. 

In relation to climate the most important con- 



SUITABLE CLIMATE. 197 

sideration is to find one that is temperate and 
equable, such as will allow the patient to be 
always in the fresh air for exercise. The late 
eminent Dr. Samuel George Morton, in his 
volume on pulmonary consumption, collects a 
number of observations as to the proper winter 
residence for consumptives. After quoting va- 
rious writers, he says : 

" It is probable, after all, that the West India 
islands are the most suitable resort for the con- 
sumptive, although sufficient observations have 
not yet been made to allow of a fair com- 
parison." 

He mentions of Jamaica : 

"The mean annual temperature in the shade is> 
in the lowlands, between 75 and 85°, and in the 
mountains between 60 and 75°. Perhaps no part 
of the world presents a more equable tempera- 
ture; which is attributed to the sea-breeze 
during the day, and the land-breeze at night." 

Dr. Morton says: 

"Experience has amply proved, that a mixture 
of sea and land air, such as exists on all maritime 



198 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

situations, is unfavorable to delicate lungs; and 
especially where there is phthisis, or even a pre- 
disposition to it. This rule appears to be of 
nearly equal application in all countries ; and the 
fact is probably, in a great measure, owing to the 
sudden and extreme changes in the atmosphere 
in such situations: for it has been observed, that 
several sea-bathing places in the south of Eng- 
land, which are protected from the north and 
east winds, are congenial to pulmonary invalids; 
while other places but a short distance off, and 
which are exposed to the winds in question, exert 
a decidedly noxious influence. The latter re- 
mark applies to nearly all the localities on our 
coast with which I am acquainted ; indeed, north 
of Florida, I am not aware of a solitary excep- 
tion. Even those consumptives who visit the 
bathing places of iNew Jersey in the summer 
season, are obviously injured by it." 

Even Florida is not free from changes — the 
weather there being sometimes delightful, but 
often the reverse. 

In the foregoing pages I have endeavored to 
exhibit to the reader my views of the importance 



CHANGES OF WEATHER. 199 

of change of air in pulmonary disease, or when it 
is threatened — that change being to a temperate 
atmosphere which is equable, and where the 
patient may avoid as much as possible the risk 
of "taking cold." Whether nervous power and 
electricity are the same is unsettled, but every 
one knows how barometrical the weak nervous 
system is — how a norther or an east wind de- 
presses the strength and feelings. To all debili- 
tated persons changes of weather are most dis- 
agreeable and dangerous, and changes in the 
electricity of the air affect the body. "Taking 
cold" results from an alteration of nervous 
(electric?) action, affecting uncomfortably and 
injuriously the vital functions, altering the distri- 
bution of nervous influence, and of course 
influencing the circulation. The great and im- 
portant object in changing air is to get to a 
locality where the fluctuations are but trifling. 
In 1858, I spent two days in Philadelphia, in 
July, with the thermometer at 96° — next day I 
went to New York, and that night the ther- 
mometer fell to 54°. I took cold, and had 
asthma fixed on me for six weeks. 

My experience of the climate of Trinidad, 



200 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

where I saw no one with a cold, but observed 
great improvement in persons affected with pul- 
monary symptoms, has induced me to throw 
before the public my experience and views. I 
trust they may assist some sufferers. 

The value of that climate is chiefly in its 
equability and temperate character — and in a 
tropical region the waste of the system from the 
combustion of the lungs being small, less effort 
is required for the nutrition of weak organs, 
which will have a better chance of recovery than 
where full duty is required of them. 

Besides the disease I have been occupied with, 
I may allude to others which call for special 
attention. 

There is a prolific class of maladies resulting 
from the over exercise and abuse of what may 
be called the "go-ahead principle." It belongs 
to our country, and deserves a place in our 
nosology. In the older countries such incessant 
labor in pursuit of wealth, as is characteristic of 
our business men, is unknown. There certain 
hours are devoted to business, ~ and then they 
retire and have rest and recreation, bat with our 
merchants and other business men, and lawyers 



UNDUE EXERTION. 201 

and doctors, the wear and tear of body and mind 
are incessant. Every hour for years is occupied, 
and the tension of the bow is so constant that 
often its fibres gradually separate and the elas- 
ticity is destroyed. 

Physicians are constantly applied to by persons 
with symptoms of heart and head disease, neu- 
ralgia and debility, which are but the results of 
over work and over exercise of mind and body. 
Affections of the heart are the most common, 
where the organ has undergone steady and con- 
tinuous effort for years to keep up the body 
engaged in business most exciting, and requiring 
incessant labor and occupation. Individuals 
expect to keep up this intense exertion until they 
acquire an indefinite fortune, and are anxious for 
their medical adviser to put them on a course 
that will either not interfere with business, or 
quickly enable them to return to it. They do not 
reflect that the strands of life are loosening, that 
the excitements they have been submitted to are 
liable to be followed by a natural and certain 
depression, the end of continued exercise of vital 
power used up, instead of being recuperated by 
the practice of moderation in all things. How 



202 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

common is it to see the best energy and most 
active intellect breaking down by exhaustion — 
resting a week or a month, or sometimes a 
season, and going back again to the depressing 
influences so certainly destructive of what vital 
force is left. We are accustomed to see these 
cases, and to meet daily with apoplexy and 
paralysis as results. 

"How much of late years has paralysis in- 
creased," is a very common exclamation, and 
every one who passes fifty begins to look for it, 
but will never realize that his incessant mental 
and bodily exertion is predisposing him to it all 
the time. This class of cases is steadily increas- 
ing, and needs a treatment somewhat similar to 
that we have advised for consumption, with the 
difference that here rest and not hard exercise is 
most necessary— laying aside business, and tra- 
veling in a pleasant climate with nothing to do 
but to see and enjoy the beauties of nature and 
art, where excitement is very moderate, and only 
of such a character as to create pleasurable 
emotions without depressing any vital function. 

ISTo one can travel in a country of luxuriant 
landscapes, where nature is exuberant of moun- 



REJUVENATION. 203 

tain and valley and tree and flower, without 
being agreeably exhilarated. The clearness of 
the atmosphere is communicated to his ideas, the 
balmy air soothes and softens the asperity of ill 
health, and solid acquirement of vital power 
accumulating gently from pleasurable influences, 
repays him for any sacrifices of leaving home. 
The dull and moping are disenthralled from their 
lethargy, and the spirit of renovated health 
buoys up and restores the anxiously desired 
nervous force, and puts new life into the pre- 
viously enervated system. 



204 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

DIRECTIONS FOR TRAVELERS. 

The facilities for visiting Cuba are so great that 
opportunities occur almost weekly. Regular 
steamers leave New York and New Orleans every 
twenty days, touching at Havana. The British 
steamer Kamak leaves New York and Havana 
once a month, stopping for a few hours at Nassau, 
N. P., the seat of government of the Bahamas, 
where are a good hotel and a pleasant, mild and 
healthful climate, where our own language is 
spoken, and many inducements exist for a visit 
from the invalid. The passage from New York 
to Havana is $60 ; from Nassau to Havana, $15 ; 
and from New Orleans to Havana, $30. The 
steamers are all fine, and the fare excellent, with 
kind and special attention from the gentlemanly 
commanders and officers. 

A regular steamer, the veteran Isabel, leaves 
Charleston, S. C, on the 4th and 19th of each 



PASSPORTS. 205 

month, and makes her trip in three days, and 
sometimes less. The passage money is $40. This 
fine steamer, under the command of the expe- 
rienced and watchful Capt. Rollins, is so punc- 
tual in her arrival at Havana, that if she does 
not enter the harbor within an hour of her usual 
time, much anxiety is exhibited lest a broken 
wheel or shaft, or some such casualty detains her. 

Before you leave the United States it is neces- 
sary to have a passport, which you may procure 
from the Secretary of State's office at "Washing- 
ton, if convenient, countersigned by a Spanish 
Consul, but one from a Spanish Consul in any 
American port is sufficient. If you have several 
of your family intending to keep together, you 
may include them in one passport, for which you 
pay two dollars, whether for one or more. 

There is a law against colored servants landing 
on the island, but if you get the Spanish Consul 
to put your servant in the passport, you can pass 
him without being stopped ; if he is not included, 
you must get an order from the Captain General, 
through your Consul stating the circumstances of 
the servant being a nurse, &c. 

Passengers should remember the change of cli- 



:>06 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

mate, requiring a change of clothing, and make 
their preparations accordingly, placing in their 
carpet-bags such changes as they require, as the 
trunks are usually sent below, and much difficulty 
exists in getting to them. The fact that the vari- 
ation of climate is so little in a tropical region, 
where summer clothing is constantly worn, makes 
it important that proper provision should be 
made. White linen is commonly worn by 
residents, and is well suited to the ordinary 
temperature, but is rather expensive, as washing 
costs not less than $1.50 per dozen for any 
articles. 

Invalids will do well to take with them a little 
basket, containing a bottle of fine brandy or 
whiskey for sickness, with a phial of laudanum 
and one of paregoric, one of hartshorn, a bottle 
of calcined magnesia and one of mustard. A 
spoon and silver cup or tumbler will be of great 
use in traveling, both at sea and on land, saving 
trouble and time. A small tin apparatus for 
heating water to make tea or coffee, with a bottle 
of alcohol and a pound or two of the best tea are 
also important. The drug stores, however, in 
Cuba are very good and well supplied, and alco- 



PREPARATIONS FOR TRAVELING. 20? 

hoi and medicines may readily be had. Still, 
invalids would, do well to be supplied by their 
own druggists. A small, well-stuffed pillow, 
and a thick comfort, with a blanket, should be 
strapped on every invalid's trunk, the value of 
which will be found very great, as in Cuba you 
sleep on cots without mattresses. 

Kumors of robbers induce many to carry re- 
volvers or pistols — this is contrary to law in the 
cities, and renders one liable to the chain-gang, 
but in the country they are allowed. While on 
the island we heard of no case requiring one to 
be armed. 

When you reach Havana, if you have not en- 
gaged rooms by letter previously, you will soon 
find the agents of the prominent hotels on board 
your steamer. Select one of them, and give your 
baggage in charge to him, who will see it through 
the Custom-House ; but it is proper that when 
you land you should give an eye to it, as explana- 
tions are often needed by the officials. Don't be 
ruffled at seeing the clerks turning up your nicely 
arranged packing, but bear it with a complacent 
smile. Your good temper has a good effect on 



208 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

the officer, and often " a fellow feeling makes us 
wondrous kind." A polite and frank expression 
that the contents of the trunk are only for private 
use, will often be met by an equally polite reply 
in the form of a chalk mark on the trunk without 
any examination. 

Having passed your baggage, and having re- 
ceived from the chief officer your permit to re- 
main three months on the island, or thirty days 
out of Havana* for $2.00, your agent provides 
you with a volante or carriage for the hotel, and 
your preliminary difficulties are over. 

The principal hotels are Madame Almy's, near 
the Alameda, which seems to be always full; 
Mrs. Beewee's Hotel Cuhano, 27 Teniente Bey / 
LeGeand's, opposite the Campo Militar, near the 
Teatro de Tacon; Mrs. Robbers' Queen's Hotel ; 
Mrs. Laweence, Teniente Rey / Buena Vista 
House, Calle de Cuba, and we ought to mention 

* When your passport runs out you have it renewed by any 
captain of a partido for fifteen days, and pay 25 cents. If you 
are traveling towards Havana, you are seldom asked to show it. 
Ordinarily, when you enter a hotel, your host asks for it, and 
keeps it until you leave. If you propose to remain more than 
three months, you get a domiciliary passport. 



HOTEL CHARGES. 209 

" The Both "World Hotel," Calle San Ignacio. 
There are also others, which can be found on en- 
quiry. There is a good hotel kept on the Cerro, 
by "Woolcttt, which is quiet and retired, and very 
airy. 

The Hotel Le Grand, outside the walls, has a 
restaurant, where you call for what you want, 
and have your meals at any hour. The sleeping 
apartments are not as comfortable as they might 
be, but the table is perhaps less exceptionable 
than that any where else. Domingo, the fille de 
chambre, is very polite, and the waiters attentive. 

The prices vary from $4.25 per day to $2.50, 
and board may be had at even less, but $3.00 to 
$3.50 is mostly the charge in good hotels; at 
Trinidad, at the Grande Antilla, you pay $3.00 ; 
at Matanzas, at Elisor's, $3.50 ; and at Cardenas, 
at Mrs. Woodbury's, $3.50. 

In such a warm climate, necessity requires pro- 
vision for only a day, and rents are very high. 
Mrs. Almy pays $600 per month, and Mrs. 
Brewer $400, and this all the year round. 

A difficulty exists in procuring small change, 
which makes it important for travelers to carry 
14 



210 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

with them a good supply to save them money 
and trouble. Fifty or an hundred dollars in 
dimes and half dimes can readily be used, and 
American quarters and halves pass only for 
twenty and forty cents. The currency of the 
country is in onzas, or ounces, (doubloons,) 
valued, the Spanish, at $17, and the Mexican at 
$16; J onzas, $8.50; \ onzas, $4.25; \ onzas, 
$2.12J; pesos, Spanish dollars; pesetas, 20 cents; 
reales fuertes, our old Spanish 12J cent pieces; 
reales sevillanos, or sincillas, the Spanish 10 cent 
or our dimes; meclios, the old Spanish 6 cent 
pieces, or our half dime. 

The old Spanish quarter, if the columns are 
prominent, pass for 25 cents, but if effaced, only 
bring 20 cents. As the charge in a volante for 
riding to any part of the city of Havana is a 
peseta, two dimes will pay it, while an American 
quarter will only be taken as a peseta. As 
visitors part with much of their change to the 
caleseros, it is worth while to have the purse well 
filled with dimes. American gold dollars pass as 
such in Havana, but beyond the walls, and in 
the interior towns, they are at a discount. 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 211 

Visitors who intend to remain some time in the 
island should be well supplied with Spanish gold, 
but should exchange it for American, if any be 
on hand, before leaving. The large amount of 
American dimes and half dimes in circulation in 
Cuba is very striking. 

As there are persons connected with the hotels 
and railroads who speak English, there is little 
difficulty in getting along, and on excursions you 
can usually procure an interpreter from the hotel 
if no one of your party speaks Spanish. The 
railroads are well managed, and receipts for 
baggage given and the numbers carefully 
entered on a register, so you may feel at ease 
about your trunks while in their care. When 
you get possession of them keep your eyes on 
them until you deliver them to your hotel agent 
or the Express. This is very necessary, or they 
may disappear. 

To visit the public institutions no permit is 
required, except to the Uoro, the Calanos, and 
the Presidio — for these you must apply to the 
American Consul, who procures the desired pass. 
You should apply the day before, so as to give 



212 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

time — the rule of the country is never to be in a 
hurry. " JVo corre priesa." 

A common proverb in Spanish is 



"El que se apresura se muere, el que no tarn bien." 
He who hurries himself will die — he who does not, all the 



In Havana, the street volantes charge a peseta 
for a ride to any part of the city, whether for 
one or two persons — or 80 cents to $1 per hour, 
if y° u make <*> bargain before hand, and this you 
should always do, particularly if you go beyond 
the walls, or the calesero will fleece you. The 
better plan, if you expect to be absent some 
time, where you are not likely to meet volantes 
for return, is to go to the stable and make your 
bargain with the Alquilador, you may then 
depend on the arrangement. Usually they 
charge a quarter ounce, $4.25, for the afternoon 
or evening, one hour or five — but you may make 
your own agreement. If you make no bargain, 
you may expect to be overcharged, as in 
Northern communities. We know a case of a 
friend who took a volante in the morning 



LETTERS TO PLANTERS. 213 

without any agreement, and lie kept it most of 
the day — he was charged an ounce, $17. 

In purchasing at the stores, they usually ask 
you a larger price than what they expect to take, 
you should therefore be aware of this and offer 
less, and adhere to your offer. One-half is fre- 
quently taken of the asking price. We pur- 
chased some lithographs of ingenios and views 
of the island at $1 each, and upon mentioning 
it to a friend, found that she had bought the 
same from the same place at 20 cents each. 

Visitors' to Cuba should provide themselves 
with something extra in their financial calcula- 
tions (which should be very liberal), for extras 
will be found a heavy item even with the 
utmost watchfulness. As everything is very 
dear in Cuba, a well-filled purse is the greatest 
necessity to the traveler. It is very pleasant to 
ride on the pacing ponies, which abound, but no- 
where else is the cost of equestrian enjoyment 
greater. 

There is one suggestion to the visitor of very 
great interest, viz : to procure letters to planters, 
owners of estates in the country, or to resident 
citizens. There are exceptions, but letters from 



214 CUBA FOR INVALIDS. 

business men to business men, merchants, 
bankers, &c, are of little value. Letters to 
private gentlemen or planters will give you a 
warm welcome, and enable you to see the 
country and enjoy its true hospitality, but Mr. 
Hogshead's letter to Mr. Muscovado, with a 
draft upon the latter, you will find appreciated 
for the premium and not for your acquaintance. 
We delivered two such letters, and found they 
did'nt pay for the walk to the counting house, 
so we threw a dozen others into the crystal 
waters. If you have letters to planters you will 
find the kindest treatment and an hospitality 
that will put you. at ease. Still, with all the 
coldness of the merchant, you must have a 
letter to one to receive and forward your 
letters — this he will do because it is a matter of 
business. 



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